SEAFORTHS Travel has designed an on-line service to allow business travellers to book their own air travel.
The system, called Ticket Window Lite, allows users with Internet access to get into Seaforths’ own database of fares.
Head of strategic planning Allan Schoenherr said only scheduled fares can be booked, but by the end of June the system will be expanded to allow access to net fares.
He said:”Ticket Window Lite allows anyone with an Internet browser to go to our Web site and directly access our database. It is designed specifically for the corporate user who does not have a direct contract with us to book their business travel on their behalf.
“Research shows that one-third of business people out there do not use a travel agent.
“These people may only travel once or twice a year and may feel that it is much more cost-effective to book over the Internet. The system can even be accessed using a portable telephone and a laptop, so it is very handy.”
Seaforths makes no charge to business travellers to use the system, but Schoenherr added:”We are hoping that we can make money by issuing the ticket for them.
“We see this is a way of picking up new business in the long term.
“A lot of people might only use this service once or twice or year, but the idea is to get them early – at the moment they may be working for a small company, but in a couple of years may become too big to handle all their business travel needs and the idea is that they will ask us to do it for them.”
The site can be found at:
www.telmetravelclub.com