GetThere Targets Use of Unused Air and Enhanced Online Ticket Exchange Capabilities for Business Travel Programs

SOUTHLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GetThere(R), the world's leading online business travel procurement solution, today announced the planned introduction of several enhancements targeted at helping corporations maximize the use of purchased, unused air tickets. GetThere enhancements focused specifically on unused air ticket banks and online ticket exchange are anticipated for early 2009. GetThere, a Sabre Travel Network business, facilitated the booking of $9.4 billion in travel in 2007.

A 2006 PhoCusWright report found that voids, refunds, exchanges and unused tickets account for approximately 30 percent of average corporate travel spend. Anecdotal estimates on the percentage of overall business travel trips that are altered after purchase differ by industry vertical, from a low of 25 percent to higher than 50 percent.

The new features follow on the heels of the successful global introduction of the multi-lingual Travel Arranger portal, rolled out to GetThere’s entire client base of corporations and travel agency resellers in August. With travel arrangers and administrative assistants handling a significant amount of schedule and travel changes for executives, the new features will seamlessly incorporate information on available ticket inventory that can be applied at the point of sale to new tickets.

New unused ticket bank functionality, anticipated in January 2009, builds off current technology that informs travelers and arrangers of available tickets via dynamic messaging. The new functionality incorporates availability of applicable tickets in the actual shopping process, cleanly utilizing the pre-paid inventory for the new trip. GetThere also intends to drive a notation in the passenger name record (PNR) for the value of the specific unused ticket to be applied by the fulfilling travel agency.

Later in 2009, GetThere intends to introduce enhancements to its online ticket exchange functionality. In an anticipated development project with ITA Software, GetThere plans to leverage ITA’s proven ReShop capabilities with the requirements of managed travel programs to offer a comprehensive array of shopping and pricing options to travelers and arrangers making changes to air itineraries online. The ITA-GetThere integration intends to provide corporations with several new features, including:

• Exchange, refund and void capabilities for domestic and international customers in all the applicable Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) fare categories for public and private customer fares;

• Application of mixed and partial itineraries; and
• Seamless technology that clients can use on any GDS across the globe.

Companies using GetThere today leverage existing online ticket exchange functionality to record an average savings of 55 percent on procurement costs and an additional 14 percent savings on airfare. Use of GetThere’s online ticket exchange functionality has consistently increased on a year-over-year basis since its introduction in 2004.

“These planned enhancements will expand savings opportunities for corporations at a time when they are focused on minimizing travel costs,” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president of GetThere. “The anticipated ITA relationship will continue a proven strategy to work with various third parties, such as meetings and expense providers, to bring solutions to the traveler and travel arranger desktop.”

About GetThere

GetThere is the world’s leading global online business travel procurement solution, surpassing $9 billion in bookings in 2007. GetThere’s proven technology and unparalleled global service infrastructure helps corporations collectively save millions in air and hotel costs. Through its unique relationship with Travelocity(R), GetThere provides a familiar online booking experience for travelers of more than 3,000 companies, including a majority of multi-national Fortune 200 firms that deploy online booking. GetThere works with all major global distribution systems (GDS). Companies using GetThere and the Sabre GDS together can optimize efficiency and cost savings across the entire travel procurement process. More information is available at http://www.getthere.com.

Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.