ARC, American take aim at duplicate bookings

ARC and American Airlines are developing what the pair described as "a revolutionary" revenue recovery tool that will enable participating airlines to identify duplicate bookings in virtually real time across multiple distribution channels.

Although carriers do not disclose the amount of revenue lost through such activities, which typically occur when passengers deliberately make multiple bookings to cover more than one trip, the figure is very large, AA MD-Revenue Management Rick Elieson noted.

ARC Director-Strategic Communications Alan Muten told ATWOnline that "the beauty of this tool" is that it will be able to identify duplicate bookings that occur through agency channels, via direct sales to airlines and also through alliance partners and even nonaligned carriers. He said that as more airlines choose to participate, the tool will become more effective and offer greater savings to the industry. He said there will be a cost assigned to using the tool but that it will not be prohibitive. At this stage in development, ARC is ready to bring other carriers into the development process along with American.

ARC Product Development Manager-Reporting and Settlements Shelly Younger said the tool will "definitely" be available in 2010 but that ARC still is studying the exact timing. She also noted that it will cover transactions outside the US. "We are looking at any and all transactions from any distribution channel," she told this website.

Separately, ARC reported that ticket sales through ARC-participating travel agencies totaled $6.07 billion in October. Although this was down 3.5% from the year-ago month, it was the highest monthly sales figure in the intervening period, Muten noted. The number of transactions actually rose 5.1% year-over-year. "It's trending in the right direction," he said.

Total fares, excluding taxes and fees, fell 3.2% to $5.18 billion. Domestic fares declined 4.7% to $2.77 billion on a 4.6% rise in transactions, while international fares slipped 1.3% to $2.4 billion on a 6.6% jump in transactions.