on 18 January 2010
The JetBlue reservations system is slated to cut over from Navitaire to SabreSonic Jan. 29, a move the airline says will bring enhanced capabilities for travel agents through the Sabre, Travelport and Amadeus global distribution systems.
However, despite the changes, travel agents using their GDSs to access JetBlue still — for now, at least — will lack basic functionalities that consumers take for granted when booking JetBlue.
JetBlue, in a FAQ [pdf] for travel agencies, says the switch to Sabre as the host for the airline’s reservations system brings the following improvements in the GDSs for travel agents: last seat availability, better inventory and fare capabilities, and “industry-standard e-ticketing.”
Still, interactive seatmaps and the ability to book specific seat assignments won’t be available immediately in the GDSs, although JetBlue says “we are working to incorporate that functionality at a future date.” So, for now, travel agents must view the interactive seatmaps or reserve specific seats — consumer-like — on the JetBlue website.
Short of that, travel agents can request via teletype [my italics] through their GDSs a general aisle or window seat request, the airline says.
Yes, via teletype.
The same lack of functionality — either by design or because of technical capability shortcomings — pertains to some ancillary services. Even with the cutover to SabreSonic, JetBlue says travel agents seeking to book or change an Even More Legroom seat will have to do these tasks on JetBlue.com because this functionality will not be available through the GDSs. Travelers can also carry out these tasks at airport kiosks or ticket counters.
With the switch to SabreSonic, look for changes, too, in JetBlue’s TrueBlue rewards program, although the airline is being coy about the details.
“All members will be advised about changes to the accrual of benefits and rewards through communications with JetBlue…” the airline says.
JetBlue’s deal to terminate Navitaire as the host of the airline’s reservations system had been previously announced, but the exact timing of the switch had been unknown until now.
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This article shows how inferior the Sabre system is compared to Navitaire’s
Eric: Why do you say that? JetBlue is saying that it gets increased functionality with Sabre as opposed to Navitaire.
Dennis, here is some info regarding Eric’s comment and Sabre’s inferior Interact system.
The NEW Sabre Interact system – and that really is a misnomer – is based on a 60+ year old command-line program. Sabre has attempted to put a GUI on the front-end and it has been a dismal failure. The interface still must mesh with and follow the same protocol commands used in the old program. As a result, the program is NOT intuitive and is difficult to learn. Various operations are now much more complicated – for instance, rebooking a ticket is now 6-steps, repricing a ticket is now 11-steps, an exchange is now 35-steps and a refund-reissue requires a whopping 74-steps… YES, 74-STEPS!!
The issues at WestJet clearly showed the flaws with Sabre’s Interact program. Unfortunately, JetBlue was too far along the migration path to turn back. I think that JetBlue will ultimately survive this customer service nightmare, it’s just really sad that Sabre has screwed them over just like they did WestJet.
Two conversions to Sabre and nothing but problems. Sabre blamed all of the problems on WestJet when time, and now the issues with JetBlue, clearly show that the issues and blame clearly lay with Sabre. I read yesterday that Sabre is now going to pay WestJet “compensation” for all of the problems they had, and still continue to experience. I hope JetBlue also pushes for compensation.
These two examples should make any airline executive pause before even considering a move to Sabre Interact. Seriously, it’s just not worth it.
Jetblue seems to be willing to drive away customers during this transition. We booked a flight and were unable to assign seats for the outbound, so I spoke to Reservations. The woman told me to go ahead and book the flight, and she’d assign the seats. She wasn’t able to assign them either, but told me the problem would be resolved the next day. That was three days ago. Still no seat assignments. I’ve asked them to at least guarantee that we have 3 seats together, but they won’t do that either – and we even tried talking to a supervisor and waited an hour for the privilege. Seems to me this a variant on the ‘bait and switch’ technique, which is at worst illegal and at best immoral.