Literature Review
In the arena of global competition, organizations in all over the world are competing through the use of the most comprehensive and advanced technological feature. The most common example of innovation is in the area of information technology and communication. Various industries are using the technologies and the advancements of software and internet to maintain and monitor their business transactions. In the application of the informative systems, the airline industry is the most common users of the system. The purpose of the application of system is to easily manage and organize all the reservations and bookings of the clients and gain the competitive advantage. Some of the popular airlines that use the various reservations systems are the British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, and many others. All of the airlines are founded in different years, following different routes, having unique organizational structure and models and yet covers the system that gained them popularity.
Reservations Systems
Because of the effect of the September 11th attack, each airlines began polishing the system and holding the importance of the airline reservation system. It has a purpose in enhancing the risk assessments among the flights from the point of embarkation to the point of destination. This process is known as the Passenger Name Record (PNR). As traced into the early reservation systems done by the travel agents, the electronic systems are here emphasized. The operation of the reservation system might have different requirements from the competing companies. The earliest versions of the reservation system were not designed to support the exchange of data between operators, as the concept of interlining (transport involving two or more carriers under a single ticket) was not yet fully developed. When the exchange of data was required, it often involved the use of other processes outside of the carrier's own reservation systems. This promotes in the construction of the PNR that systematically records each of passenger's travel requirements which contains all information necessary to enable reservations to be processed and controlled by the booking airline and the airline(s) participating in the carriage (IATA, 2004). The record includes the following:
1. The passenger's name (or names, as a PNR can be for a single traveler or for a group of many);
2. Itinerary or routing;
3. Received from (the person making the reservation);
4. A phone contact (which is basically the number of Travel Agent made the booking); and
5. Ticketing information
On-Line Reservations
Because of the rapid spread of the internet, the airlines adopted a reservation system that is a strong factor to gain new sales. The airlines began to introduce their own on-line reservation system. These systems allowed airlines to avoid commissions by bypassing travel agents. Thus, it has a tendency for the users to repeat the business transactions. The airline reservation systems are frequently liked to the various programs and special offers which adds to their ability to capture the travel and leisure market. These are some strategies that the online travel agencies and travel agents cannot achieve because of the limitation in their services. However, this system also experience drawbacks. Most of the airline sites do not allow for easy price comparison, some will only book reservations on the airline which owns the site. Itineraries which require travel to cities not served by that carrier usually cannot be booked (Kearney & Robinson, 2004).
On-Line Travel Agencies
There are many traditional travel agencies that are operating on-line, but only few are known by the passengers. The transaction between the travel agents and airlines is through the commission basis. However, because of the direct booking of other passengers the commission basis is slow diminishing and they have to charge the customers for the service fee. The usual offers they give depend on their strategy and advertisement and not part of the airlines (Kearney & Robinson, 2004).
Differences in Airline Reservation Systems
The reservation systems contain the information concerning the passengers and his transportation. This information can be exchanged between the carriers through the facilitation of well-defined method. The differences of the methods are based on the way wherein the various systems interact with the airport system during the operations. For some instances, the passenger’s records in the reservation system can be updated with the information and check-in operations.
Some carrier includes the additional information or has no formal structured PNR and sometimes the risks occur. For example the Tour Operator entered the contact of the passenger that may lead to the security of the clientele. In today, many carriers do not operate in their own reservation systems, and instead rely on the products and systems developed by the commercial Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS). In these cases, a carrier operating from one country may be relying on a CRS for reservations and check-in services that is based in another country - and accordingly - potentially bound by differing laws (IATA, 2004).
References:
IATA, (2004) Airline Reservation System and Passenger Name Record (PNR) Access by States, International Air Transport Association [Online] Available at: http://www.icao.int/icao/en/atb/fal/fal12/documentation/fal12wp074_en.pdf [Accessed 17 August 2010].
Kearney, T.J., & Robinson, R., (2004) Direct Marketing in the Travel Industry: A Revolution in Channel Structure [Online] Available at: http://www.the-dma.org/dmef/proceedings/kearney.pdf [Accessed 17 August 2010].
