Speeding Tickets

I/ Who are the winners at different stages of the changing travel industry?

Upon the sequence of related events, the winners at different stages are mentioned as follows:

1/ At the stage of the appearance of GDS (Global Distribution Systems):

* Outline:

- "By the 1950s, American Airline's growth outpaced its ability to manage its inventory of seats using manual methods".

- It was told that American Airline encountered to meet IBM and they together decided to develop a system named SABRE for the purpose of controlling the seats on flights. At the end of the day this system was turned out to become "the control center through which American Airlines functioned".

- "After witnessing the success of Sabre system, other airlines sought to construct similar systems. IBM used its experience with Sabre to develop a scaled-down CRS called Passenger Airline Reservation Systems (PARS), targeting medium sized airlines. IBM began taking orders for PARS in 1965, and by 1968, had several important airline customers"

- "By 1972, of the ten major airlines operating in the U.S., only one did not operate the IBM PARS system".

* Conclusion:

- The winner was IBM when it could achieve an almost full-sized profit from this industry. IBM was the leader on creating a competition of technology to develop the Ticket Distribution scheme thus its market share was recorded as a key player.

2/ At the stage of the power of GDS companies (Global Distribution Systems):

* Outline:

- There were only 04 GDS operators (Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus and Worldspan) leading the market share on providing "the flight schedule searching and booking capability for almost all travel agents in United States".

- "The airlines that owned GDS developed methods to bias the results of searches performed on their systems".

- "GDS operators, i.e., their airline owners, often charged booking fees in relation to the perceived threat of the airline in question" and "these policies were particularly effective against new, small competitors who could not afford such steep fees and were forced to opt out of the distribution channel"

* Conclusion:

- The winner was the airlines possess the GDS.

3/ At the stage of Government intervention:

* Outline:

- "Following airline deregulation in 1978, travel agent commissions, which had been fixed at 5 percent of the ticket price, increased up to 10 percent as airlines competed for the attentions of agents, whose role in the newly complex airline travel market gained in prominence. IN 1993, commissions as a percent of airline operating expense for United States airlines hit a high of 10.9 percent, or $7.6 billion"

* Conclusion:

- The winner was the travel agency who got more profits thanks to higher commission and travel agents can now demand higher commission.

4/ At the stage of Impact of The Internet:

* Outline:

- "As Microsoft started to realize the potential of technology solutions in the travel agency industry, the company invested $100 million to create software that would allow PCs to replicate the job performed by GDS mainframes, that is retrieve and purchase flights"

- The booking expense executed through Internet was remarkably cheaper than it did via travel agency. "To airlines, the Internet offered a way of bypassing both costly GDS and travel agents, in order to deal directly with customers".

- "Online