‘Extra Bags’ feature introduced in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and United Kingdom
Auckland, New Zealand, 2012-12-11 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces a substantial merchandising milestone with the introduction of the new Prepaid Extra Bags feature. The new agreement enables Travelport-connected travel agents in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom to book extra bags using industry standard electronic miscellaneous document (EMD).
With the new functionality, agents in the specified regions will be able to pre-book extra baggage services for their customers on Air New Zealand operated flights. The service may be purchased at the time of booking, or up to three hours prior to departure for international journeys and up to 30 minutes prior for domestic New Zealand trips. By pre-booking extra baggage, travellers will be able to make cost savings.
Air New Zealand’s Prepaid Extra Bags feature was rolled out in late November to agents using the Galileo system in New Zealand and Australia. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, Extra Bags is available on both Galileo and Worldspan.
Damian Hickey, Vice President of Distribution Sales and Services for Asia-Pacific at Travelport said: “For Travelport, enabling the distribution of an airline’s complete product set is a key part of our business, and this new capability is a win for all parts of the distribution chain and should lead to Air New Zealand being able to grow their ancillary revenues via the travel agency channel. Additionally, travel agents will be able to expand their service offering, while travellers will save on last minute costs of having extra baggage at the check-in counters.”
Providing fulfillment via EMD completes the end-to-end process for travel agency distribution of airline ancillary services and forms part of Travelport’s wider merchandising offering. This offering enables a number of major airlines to sell their products in a more efficient and integrated way through travel agents. Over the past 16 months, Travelport has successfully integrated ancillary services seamlessly into agency points of sale for airlines including KLM, British Airways, Air Canada, United and Alitalia with more in the pipeline.
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Media Contacts:
Susan Lin, PR Manager, Asia Pacific, Travelport
E-mail: susan.lin@travelport.com
Tel: +61 2 9391 4038
Michelle Larmer, Double Edge PR
E-mail: michelle@doubleedge.com.au
Tel: +61 2 9957 1352
About Travelport (www.travelport.com)
Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry.
With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3,500 employees and 2011 net revenue of $2.0 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution systems (GDS) business, which includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands and its Airline IT Solutions business.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Travelport is a privately owned company.
Follow Travelport on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Travelport
About Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.co.nz)
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.