On Wednesday, August 21, 2002, Northwestern Travel Management Corporate Account Services hosted a travel forum focusing on the accessibility of Web fares.

Forty-one customers and prospects attended the workshop to learn about Web fares and clarification of facts and fiction related to Web bookings.

NTM's Corporate Consulting Manager, Jeff Brand, facilitated the event. Keynote speaker, Terry Trippler, Air Traveler Advocate and President of Trippler & Associates, Inc., focused on the value of managed travel and reinforced the "buyer beware" notion of purchasing airline tickets on the Internet.

Jack Noble, NTM's President, gave an overview of the research NTM did to find the right Web fare search tool to integrate into the NTM business system. As Trippler suggested, NTM has embraced the power of the Internet and continues to work on technology solutions to provide customers with workable options. AgentWare is the Web fare search tool to which NTM has chosen to subscribe. The software is utilized in-house to search the Internet for lower fare options for a specific itinerary. Marc Kiewel of NTM's STAR Center gave a demonstration of the product.

Les Ottolenghi, CEO and President of AgentWare gave an update on the Congressional debate over accessibility to Web fares in the GDS (w.g., Worldspan). Mr. Ottolenghi is a leading force in communicating to Congress about the need for more widespread and consistent access to Web fares and he shared his "up close and personal" experiences with the National Commission to Ensure Consumer Information and Choice in the Airline Industry (N.C.E.C.I.C. at www.ncecic.dot.gov). N.C.E.C.I.C. is studying the role of travel agents in the distribution of air travel and whether the airlines are creating barriers to block consumer access to information and choice.

Lisa Buckner, NTM's Vice President of Corporate Sales and Account Services, gave the closing remarks, including an overview of items a travel manager should think about when considering Web fares:

• How do Web fares work within your corporate culture?
• Are your travelers comfortable with Web fares?
• Do your travelers make frequent changes to reservations?

• "The Internet is biased towards carriers; my travel agent is biased towards me." - Terry Trippler

  Although Web fares can be added manually to the reporting system, how much additional data would you be missing from these transactions on various reports?
• As a travel manager, what parameters will you set on reservations before AgentWare is utilized to search for additional options?
• Will your travelers be amenable to the additional reservation time that is required?
• Do you have an effective means of communication within your company for redefining your travel processes?

To request a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, send an e-mail to Jeff Brand, jbrand.

How Does AgentWare Work?
NTM's STAR Center processes AgentWare requests. Marc Kiewel, Domestic/International Fare Specialist, gave a step-by-step walk-through of the AgentWare product.

• Customer sets a dollar parameter to qualify for NTM to search
• AgentWare searches for lower options from ten different sites (all major carriers plus the leading public online booking tools such as Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity). Note: More sites are available, but provide little additional value to merit the extra search time.
• Traveler decides on whether to accept Web fare options after weighing the pros and cons.

Forum Gallery
Click to view a gallery of photos from the forum.