A DEAL FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

American Airlines and Farelogix have unveiled details of a new, seven-year agreement. The deal will see Farelogix continuing to provide enhancements and support for American’s direct connect, a technologically advanced system which enables the sale of American’s fares and other products by travel agencies. Cory Garner, managing director of sales operations and distribution for American Airlines, said that: “Using direct connect technology, we can make individually tailored offers possible in real time, transparently, no matter where the customer chooses to shop. Third-party distribution channels that use American’s direct connect can provide customers with the unprecedented ability to shop where they want, yet obtain the highly relevant products and pricing that one would normally expect from contacting American directly.” Direct connect is American’s preferred method of connectivity for travel agencies and global distribution systems to access its full suite of content, including Main Cabin Extra, which makes travel more comfortable and convenient by providing four to six inches of additional legroom and Group 1 boarding. American’s direct connect adheres to the IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard and is in production with many travel agencies around the globe. Jim Davidson, president and CEO of Farelogix, said: “We see this technology as the future of airline distribution, whereby the airline is empowered to make its very best offer and compete for the customer at every transaction and touch point. We are delighted to collaborate with an airline such as American that shares our vision for the modernization of airline commerce.” Go to http://www.aa.com or visit http://www.farelogix.com for more.