izzik

Well, I'm sure they don't want just any miles-crazed folk accessing that information..

carlhaynes

I been a member of nexion for about 6 months now and have been very happy with it. I book all my own flights through sabre and use worldspan to look up routiung rules. I like the flexibility of being able to book exactly the flights I want.

That being said I still do almost all my initial searching using ITA, I just find it easier. I do use like some of Sabre's searching ability and find that with a combination of ITA and sabre I can find and book just about anything.

I tend not to use Apollo and Galileo but that's just because I'm lazy about learning the languages.

I went in cold, not knowing any of the sabre language and have been picking it up as I go, Nexion also had a free Sabre training CD that they will lend you. I'm still a long way from proficient and can basically get in, search, and book while looking at lots of cheat sheets.

Overall I think the service is worth the $40 a month primarily for the ability to book complicated routes. I just figure it as a monthly cost added to all my flying. I have yet to make a single commission on anything and don't expect to (I book all my hotels and cars through Priceline). I believe I am able to earn more mileage by booking things myself and that's how I justify it.

Signing up was no problem, they do a credit check and such, but basically I filled out the form and got a response in a couple days and was up and running immediately after.

The biggist downside is that because you must use their custom software you don't have access to things like xml based versions of sabre from which you could write some web services or automate a bunch of services.

I'm more than happy to answer any specific questions.

(edited for lots of spelling, grammer errors)

TrayflowInUK

Carlhaynes,

Can you view hidden buckets (e.g., upgrade or award buckets)?

If you're booking your own travel, wouldn't the commission that a travel agent normally receives basically be a discount to you? How does that work?

carlhaynes

I'm not sure, what are the buckets and I can look, basically anything your travel agent can do, you would be able to do (provided your travel agent uses one of the 4 GDSs of course)

Travel agents make no commission on flights any more, so basically you get the same as they do: 0%. There are some exceptions for some airlines, mostly from outside of the US but since I pretty much have only booked on United my total income is $0. At least it makes taxes easy to figure!

There are commissions if you book hotels, cruises, package deals etc so there are some possibilities there but I don't expect to ever book any of those.

dcgators

Is this true for international tickets too?

I thought that airlines still paid a nominal commission for international?

carlhaynes

Yeah some airlines still do (United doesn't) It seems like most have some fare restrictions like Continental:

Continental will pay an upfront commission of 3% uncapped on "J", "D", "Y" and "H" fare classes ticketed by 3/31/2006.

As far as I can tell American, Delta, Northwest and Continental all pay commissions on at least some international fares. Unfortunately I haven't booked on them.

kanebear

After being with Nexion a year I finally felt comfy enough in Sabre (self taught... boy THAT is a steep learning curve and I'm only about 30%) to ticket my own. What a rush! *lol* Ok I realize that may sound very strange but I LIKE owning my res and doing exactly what I wish with it.

Gotta say this. NOTHING but NOTHING beats Sabre (ok or any GDS) access when you're looking for availability in a certain fare bucket. It's so easy and flexibile it's absolutely astonishing compared to pounding on any web engine.

You need S availability on IAH-LGA on a given date? One command.... done, and a follow on if you want to look at 3 segment cxns (it does 2 segs automatically). Can't find it and want to check another fare bucket for the same day and routes but on another airline? There's a shortcut! One simple command. Want to look for avail in a five day forward window on that carrier/route/fare-bucket? Automatic with one simple command. Back a day? Same deal. You also can easily see how far you can 'push' a fare to maximize miles/work in a free (almost) stopover, etc.

The huge boon to me is the ability to craft an itinerary exactly and price it out or see precisely where (a) leg(s) doesn't/don't have availability in the necessary bucket (which would cause the fare to explode using a web engine), and you have to trial-n-error to figure out what's wrong! ITA+Sabre is the perfect combo, 'cause you have the best possible chance of actually GETTING the fare you want or learning exactly why you can't.

Yes, the app process for NEXION is a PITA but have you ever been through the process of applying for a B2B account before? It's largely the same process... because that's exactly what you're doing. Nexion is designed for home based/small travel agencies, not us nutters!

Given how much damage a rogue TA can do that could come back on Nexion, I don't blame 'em for thoroughly inspecting the folks they allow in. Nexion automatically gives POS terminal capability to their agents... so they're in effect your credit card processor. That's why the app process is so difficult. IMO it's still worth it, and at $39 a month it's a bargain for what you can get out of it!

And not only do they pay commissions on quite a few airlines for premium fares but they also have special deals with preferred suppliers to pay up to 20%... most preferred airlines are about 15%. Not all routings and fare classes apply but it's pretty broad.

925

Commissions on domestic AA or DL? US to Caribbean AA or DL? AA to Europe?

jld22

Does anyone know where I could find a list of the commissions offered to travel agents for booking airlines, hotels, cruises, etc.? Thanks.

-Jeff

tcook052

A list? Those arrangements are generally confidential between supplier and TA, AFAIK.

TravelerMSY

Looks like a nice service. I used to be a part-time agent through an outfit like this pre-internet. Had to dial into Apollo System One through long-distance dialup, with physical tickets getting mailed to me every week. Boy has the Internet changed everything.

I can see where you could at least pay the monthly fee selling commissionable travel to yourself. Go at it a little more actively and you could get a biz tax deduction for the activities.

One obvious drawback of having this kind of routing power is that you will have to eat any mistakes (debit memos) on fares that break the rules.

I'm tempted but I just bought the AA Prepaid Card for immediate exp status so I'm locked into purchasing from them directly.

Traveler

jes6464

This is true. I have been a Nexion member for seven years now. Nexion/Jurni is a great company, and offers a great product, namely the ability for agents to sell travel without the overhead of a conventional agency. One does, however, incur the same responsibility as if one had a conventional agency (IE debit memos). I most often book via conventional websites for a mileage run, and always do so for fare errors. It just is not worth the chance of an airline debit memo - it is equivalent to battling the IRS.

jes6464

-BTW - If anyone has any questions about the service - feel free to PM me.

kanebear

AA was the preferred supplier last year. Sadly Nexion didn't generate enough volume and dropped the contract. If a TA doesn't have a contract I don't believe AA pays ANYTHING anymore and I don't see UA or US either. DL currently pays comm on some routes in F/A/J/C/D/Y/B/M but they're very limited. No one else does.

kanebear

Yes you can. Thus far I've been successful in looking at AA's and QF's (C and Z on AA, Z on QF). Haven't gotten CX or BA yet but I will.

...and Nexion direct deposits into your bank account or will send a check. Not sure but I think you CAN discount a ticket up to what the commission would've been.

Supposedly Internetview will 'translate' between GDS languages on the fly. So if you know Sabre but need Worldspan you just enter Sabre commands and it'll transpose 'em for you. Haven't figured out how to do it yet though.