AirGuide - Travel Technology News 21/12/09

AirBerlin
AirBerlin said it became the first airline to receive approval from German aviation regulator LBA to deploy GLS technology on its flights.

BedandBreakfast.com
BedandBreakfast.com, the largest online B&B directory and reservation network worldwide, is pulling out all the stops on Cyber Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, with the biggest sale ever on the Getaway Gift Card, welcomed at more than 4,000 B&Bs in the U.S. and Canada. Purchase a Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com starting Nov. 30 through Dec. 17, and a 15 percent discount will be applied to all purchases of USD100 or more. Just enter promo code BIG15GIFT at checkout; the free shipping option is upgraded to free FedEx on orders of USD100 or more. The Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com is the only travel gift card offering free customization with your own photos, a free directory, and free shipping; there are absolutely no expiration dates, no blackout dates, no taxes or hidden fees, and no decrease in value. For more information, visit www.bedandbreakfast.com.

Emirates Airlines
Emirates is taking a serious look at bringing high-speed Internet to passengers, and reveals it is studying whether the business case for a Ku-band satellite-based solution has improved enough to adopt for its fleet. In an interview last week in Dubai aboard an Emirates Airbus A380 bound for Toronto, company vice-president for passenger communications Patrick Brannelly said: "There is no global solution today for Internet for passengers on a big plane like this. Ku will cover many of the regions in the world. We are looking at the affordability.

GOL Linhas Aereas, Travelport
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA announced the adoption of Travelport's Interline E-ticket Interchange, a technological platform which facilitates the control and operational functioning of its airline agreements. Additionally, the company extended its agreements with the main global distribution systems (GDS): Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport. The technology used by Travelport's Interline E-ticket Interchange allows GOL to issue tickets globally, even if the partner airline employs the traditional e-ticket model. Another product from this technology provider, ETDBase, allows GOL to build a latest-generation, e-ticket database, allowing it to store and control e-tickets issued by its partners. Sales of itineraries comprising GOL flights only retain the current ticketless model, one of GOL's low-cost management pillars.

Pegasus Solutions
Pegasus Solutions has issued The Pegasus View for October 2009, which draws from booking data for more than 90,000 hotels worldwide during the month. Overall, the report shows bookings and net revenue figures climbing back to 2008 levels, with positive movement in North America. The region's corporate bookings jumped 3.5 percent in volume in October 2009 compared to October 2008, and 21 percent in leisure bookings volume for the same period. As the first region to deal with the impact of the downturn in 2008, this renewed growth for North America signifies the expectation of similar recoveries in the coming months for the rest of the world, according to Mike Kistner, CEO of Pegasus. The October 2009 Pegasus View also shows a very modest but continued climb in average daily rate (ADR) for global distribution system (GDS) bookings, which were up from September's 2009 high at USD162.65 to USD163 in October 2009. In the alternative distribution system (ADS) channel, which represents leisure bookings, ADR is down 14.48 percent, though the channel was up in terms of booking volume with overall year-on-year growth of 3.27 percent. For more information, visit www.pegs.com.

TripIt
TripIt, the trip management company, has announced that TripIt is available to travelers using mobile devices powered by the Android mobile operating system backed by Google. This free mobile app gives travelers access to all their travel plans right on their Android device, no matter where their travel was booked. Travelers simply forward their travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and TripIt automatically creates their master travel itineraries. With the TripIt for Android app, a traveler then just clicks to check flight status on any airline, view a confirmation number from any rental car supplier, or get directions to their hotel, restaurant, meeting or anything that's part of their TripIt itinerary. TripIt for Android also supports features of the TripIt Pro premium service, including mobile flight alerts and alternate flight options. For more information, visit www.tripit.com.

ZZ AirGuide 091209

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