GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus - December 2011

Product news, releases, projects and more from the global distribution systems during December 2011 – all here, in one easy read.

Most recent updates first…

Thursday 22 December 2011:

Travelport signs agreements with four agencies in Saudi Arabia. The Galileo distribution and technology deals cover new contracts with Asfar Travels and Global Destination Solutions, as well as extensions to existing agreements with Transcontinental Holidays and Roibek Travel.
TnoozLIVE – Episode #1: 2011 roundup and 2012 preview [VIDEO]
Travelport stands firm on introduction of Agility despite pressure from agent groups
Sabre wraps up billion dollar contract with Etihad Airways

Tuesday 20 December 2011:

Thursday 15 December 2011:

Sabre Travel Network and Glowpoint unite to provide cloud video services as part of the Sabre Virtual Meetings platform. Glowpoint will provide Sabre with its OpenVideo system to give users video bridging and helpdesk support as well as remote monitoring and management tools for the videoconferencing platform.
Amadeus says over half of its customers in the UK had dealt with clients who had obtained travel advice through social media before consulting a travel agency. The survey also found that four out of ten agencies had yet to integrate social media into their working practices, although 60% are using social media to help with new business.
Karibu Games wants to bring gaming into the heart of online travel
Open APIs in travel need to grow up

Tuesday 13 December 2011:

Travelport signs full content agreement with Austrian Airlines. The renewal of the multi-year deal gives all Galileo and Worldspan-connected agents access to the airline full published fares and availability.
Sabre Airline Solutions has used to its SabreSonic Customers Sales and Service package to integrate Ethiopian Airlines into the Star Alliance airline network. The partnership allows the airline to offer passengers frequent flyer points across the network of carriers as well as improve data and operational integration.
What else? Teletext Holidays MBO, Phishing air tickets, HolidayCheck, Fastbooking

Saturday 10 December 2011:

Thursday 8 December 2011:

Monday 5 December 2011:

Amadeus and Iberia add to its existing distribution agreement by adding ancillary tools to the airline’s technology platform. The carrier has adopted the Amadeus Ancillary Services tool, as part of a long-term strategy, to initially allow agents to book preferred seats for passengers.
Jizo claims major distribution first for travel search, opens up Russia
Open call to all travel companies: Simplify your APIs!

Sunday 4 December 2011:

Thursday 1 December 2012:

BMI reaches agreement with Travelport to extend distribution agreement. Worldspan and Galileo-connected agents will have access to BMI’s full published fares and availability.
LAN Airlines signs full content agreement with Amadeus. The multi-year partnership gives Amadeus-connected agents access to fares, schedules and inventory across the LAN portfolio including carriers in Argentina, Peru, and the LAN Express brand.
Travelport extends agreement with RightNow Technologies to cover the travel tech provider’s new Developer Network. RightNow will power the community aspect of the network, allowing users to collaborate, swap ideas and interact with one another.
Amadeus launches Market Pricing product. The system is part of the Revenue Management suite of tools and combines publicly available rate information from major web rate shoppers and Amadeus itself to give hotel revenue managers a view of the market through price trends, price fluctuations and benchmarks.
Amadeus takes blame for Qantas check-in system crash
Tnooz-Travelport Webinar: VIDEO – The hotel shopping dilemma
Sabre integrating booking, corporate travel features into TripCase mobile offering
American Airlines parent company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection