Bmi to revamp online booking engine
Bmi has started a phased year-long programme of improvements to its internet booking engine.
The airline is moving from Amadeus WDS to Amadeus XML and claims this will give customers a much smoother journey.
The phased implementation, which will be complete by summer 2010, will be managed by bmi’s internal e-commerce team.
Additional features of the enhanced booking engine, starting from this month, will include enhanced prime flight booking flow reducing from a seven step to five step process.
The airline will also have increased flexibility to upload promotional fares.
By the end of 2009 the site will feature further ancillary products, such as car hire and airport parking, a ‘manage my booking’ facility, and by the summer 2010 a rebooking and group booking function, as well as the ability to book open jaw and multi-leg journeys.
Tamarah Khatib, bmi’s head of online, said: “The changes we are making mean travellers have the opportunity to use the site as a one stop shop in a quicker, more transparent, smoother, single transaction.
“There’s also a commercial objective, to increase sales conversions online and boost revenue from the sales of ancillary products.â€
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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