Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | B | Business Travel News

Airline VPs talk alliance deals.

Article Excerpt
Northwest vice president of sales and customer relations Fay Beauchine, Continental vice president of sates and reservations Dave Hilfman and Delta senior vice president of sales and distribution Lee Macenczak recently discussed with BTN airline editor David Jonas prospects for joint alliance corporate contracting and progress in aligning products and services.

BTN: Please describe the current interest from corporations for alliancewide deals.

Lee Macenzak There is significant interest and a little bit of curiosity. They are asking, "What is in it for me?" If a customer is willing to make a commitment, there is a powerful network that can come to bear here. It can provide a tremendous amount of benefit to a client, and certain people are already seeing that.

BTN: How are they already seeing the benefits?

Macenczak: Some people already know it will be a positive and want to go further down the road in the discussion in terms of getting involved in joint contracting.

Fay Beauchine: There is a base of people that already have had a successful alliance contracting experience either with Northwest and Continental, or Delta and SkyTeam or others. They are not afraid to come forward and ask us what we have.

BTN: How exactly is a joint contract more beneficial from the corporate standpoint than two or three independent deals?

Beauchine: It is single contracting and combined online alliance joint reporting. It is a great convenience for a travel manager.

BTN: When will that joint reporting be accessible for alliance clients?

Beauchine: It can happen this fall. Dave Hilfman: Our goal is...