COMPUTER software company Consolidata has gone live with a new Internet-based product which it claims will revolutionise the way agents book scheduled flights.
The London-based company claims the new product, Consolidata Plus, offers agents who are not connected to a global distribution system the chance to quickly and easily book consolidated fares without having to make long and expensive phone calls.
Consolidata Plus replaces the company’s existing product, Consolidata Classic, which provides agents with up-to-date fares from some 30 consolidators but does not have a booking facility.
With Consolidata Plus, once agents have selected a fare they are automatically routed via the Internet into one of three GDSs – Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan – to enable them to make a booking on-line. Consolidata sales and marketing director John Williams claimed Consolidata Plus was the first product on the market to give agents unbiased fares information and allow them to book on-line.
“All other systems on the market are information-only systems so agents often have to spend a long time on the phone trying to book a flight they have seen on the screen,” said Williams.
“This can be quite expensive, particularly if an agent is based at the other side of the country to the consolidator. But because bookings on Consolidata Plus are made on the Internet, the agent only pays the price of a local call.
“Also, as Consolidata Plus gives agents access to the fares of more than 30 consolidators, they don’t have to make lots of phone calls.”
Agents do not need to pay for their own connection to a GDS as Consolidata Plus will automatically take them into either Amadeus, Galileo or Worldspan.
As yet, Consolidata does not have a connection to SABRE. “This is because all of the consolidators we use are on the other GDSs, but if we find we need a line to SABRE, we will set one up,” added Williams.
Consolidata is also looking at adding other travel products to the system later this year, but at the moment it can only be used to book flights.
Williams anticipates that 1,000 agents will be using Consolidata Plus by this summer. All 500 agents currently using Consolidata Classic will have to switch to Consolidata Plus as the Classic product is being withdrawn, and Williams said at least 300 additional agents had expressed an interest in signing up for the new product.