Rumour: T5 ticket desks to close
Dec 20, 18, 12:13 pm
#76
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,615
Amadeus already has a "rebook onto likely best" option, BA uses it internally. Connecting this to a user-friendly display with a button that says "yes" that then tells Amadeus to do the booking (rather than having a BA CS person read the result to the customer, then type some stuff that causes the ticket to be changed) is not beyond the wit of mortal software developers. BA already has this capability for "Same Day Change" on their website.
Claiming some need for NDC or other reservation-system-rewrites is a prerequisite for "We need to have a kiosk for rebooking during disruption" just isn't true, no matter that it would make a convenient stalking horse for the other reasons for NDC (which are mostly finer control of pricing and availability, thereby making the pricing and availability more opaque and charging each customer more precisely the maximum they will pay; and reduction of GDS fee payments).
Claiming some need for NDC or other reservation-system-rewrites is a prerequisite for "We need to have a kiosk for rebooking during disruption" just isn't true, no matter that it would make a convenient stalking horse for the other reasons for NDC (which are mostly finer control of pricing and availability, thereby making the pricing and availability more opaque and charging each customer more precisely the maximum they will pay; and reduction of GDS fee payments).
Dec 20, 18, 12:14 pm
#77
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,615
I'm trying to cancel a ticket. The website isn't playing along:
So I tried calling the call centre. Call got answered pretty much immediately (wow!) and they say their servers are down, and that I should call back in 20 minutes. Hopefully it's a minor blip, or otherwise, things are going to get worse, fast!
It's for situations like these where a physical ticket desk would hopefully solve the problem.
So I tried calling the call centre. Call got answered pretty much immediately (wow!) and they say their servers are down, and that I should call back in 20 minutes. Hopefully it's a minor blip, or otherwise, things are going to get worse, fast!
It's for situations like these where a physical ticket desk would hopefully solve the problem.
Dec 20, 18, 2:49 pm
#78
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,033
In that case it's slightly harder, but I can still imagine searching for alternate routings reasonably easily with repeated queries to the reservation backend.
Dec 20, 18, 2:55 pm
#79
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,006
Completely agree. But sadly I doubt that it will ever be possible without disposing of the entire distribution, reservations and ticketing infrastructure, rebuilding from the ground up. SABRE, Amadeus and the hanger on platform vendors like PROS are just too entrenched in the industry and while ATPCO try to be the good guys and move things along all they are ultimately doing is delaying the inevitable massive disruption. 
Dec 20, 18, 4:21 pm
#80
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,615
Oh, that's disappointing to know. I had thought such an interface had been described here in the past; thanks for the correction.
In that case it's slightly harder, but I can still imagine searching for alternate routings reasonably easily with repeated queries to the reservation backend.
In that case it's slightly harder, but I can still imagine searching for alternate routings reasonably easily with repeated queries to the reservation backend.
