the status of easySabre
 

I just got off a 15-minute call with Terry Jones, the president of Travelocity.com. Pretty much, the status of easySabre as it is today is over. easySabre/travelocity is basically a travel agency, even though Sabre is a separate division of AMR. They make money by selling tickets, and easySabre sells far fewer tickets than travelocity, and thus they lose money on it. Most people use easySabre the way I do and many of us do: look up information and buy somewhere else.

So, while they are aware that very many people are upset by the demise of easySabre, they don't want to keep paying for it. I told him (truthfully) that I would be willing to pay whatever they ask for in order to have continued access. He says they are looking into that possibility. If you call or write to express your opinion (and you should), you should also be prepared to back it up with an offer to pay something. If you have status with American Airlines, you could try to convince someone at AMR to subsidize your use of easySabre, but according to Mr. Jones, AMR already knows that many of the exec. Platinums are unhappy, but so far they haven't offered travelocity anything.

Everyone is still thinking about what to do next. He was not too enthusiastic either about the idea of at least keeping easySabre around till it breaks in December, but he hasn't ruled it out. So, keep those phone calls and emails coming, but remember the free lunch is over.

I use EasySabre mostly to check out the prices of upgradeable fares. Anybody know of another site that allows this? All the sites I been to either gives you the lowest or the full coach fare.

ie. United's international upgradeable fare codes are Y,B,H, and M. The lowest fares that are provided by most websites are booked in classes under M (Q, W, V....) while the unrestricted fares are either Y or B. I'm looking for a site that gives me fares for H or M. Easysabre does that.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by seawolf (edited 06-14-1999).]

Try http://www.itn.com and turn on the expert mode!

Wow - ITN expert mode is great! However, there seems to be a discrepency between seat availability on ITN and on the United Connection. For instance, United connection might show all seats taken in the seat mapper where ITN shows lots of seats available at many different fares.

Anyone have an explanation?

I must admit, ITN does seem to show class availability correctly, including on connections. (Availability on a particular leg may be different when it's part of a connection vs. by itself.) I was a little skeptical about AA flights since ITN is not the native system, but I randomly compared a few flights on easySabre and ITN, and they matched. So while you can't book the class you want, you can at least know what to ask for when you call the airline.

I think UserMark is right. ITN shows class availability, but it does not show you the fare of that particular class or allow you to book in that class. (Ex. JFK-HKG. Booked in Y = $2500, B = $1900, Q = $1100) ITN tells you that B is available, but it doesn't tell me that the fare is $1900 nor can I book it online. Most websites lets you book the lowest fare (in this example, Q) or the full-coach fare.

EasySabre gives you the fare and let you book in any class that is valid.

Ok folks, what am I missing?? Where on the ITN site do I turn on the expert mode? Thanks.

Djlawman

In the Travel profile section goto display preferences and then change availability format to expert.

Several months on, does anyone know of a website that not only lists available classes, but lists the fares for those classes. ITN tells me I can buy a B fare or an M fare but will only give me the cost of the highest class (Y) or the lowest, usually L, K or Q http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

All these proprietary programs have been dumped...AA's easySabre, UA's UA Connection, and US's Priority Travelworks. With the development of the open sites at each carrier, they are no longer willing to support these more sophisticated programs. I'm sure they never paid for themselves. Just another perk gone bye bye in the great homogenization of air travel.

hi guys. does anyone know of a website that will also show availability of award seats (ex. "T" class for AA). i tried the ITN website, but it seems to show every class except for award seats.

thanks!