Galileo loses Momentum
Galileo is to combine its Momentum and Preferred Fares programmes into one unit.
Momentum, launched on March 1 this year, was designed to reduce travel distribution costs for airlines – with some of their savings being passed on to agents instead through reduced commission payments.
Launched in conjunction with Rosenbluth, United Airlines and US Airways, Momentum was supposed to be a three year programme that saved airlines around 20% in distribution costs as agents accepted reduced commission levels in return for full access to an airline’s publicly available airfares including webfares.
Galileo said its new system, called Preferred Fares Select (PFS), has been devised “in response to the interests and needs of its travel agency and airline customers.” It is now very similar to Sabre’s DCA Three Year Option which does not make agents accept reduced commission and which this week signed up Continental, Northwest/KLM Royal Dutch and Delta Air Lines in the US meaning five of the top six US carriers (excluding American Airlines) are members.
Galileo’s PFS solution will allow airlines to reduce their fees on all US originated bookings as long as the airline agrees to distribute all publicly available fares through Galileo for a three-year term. This includes all fares the airline sells through any other GDS, third-party websites and through their own web and reservation offices.
The expanded airline content will be made available to all Galileo US point-of-sale travel agencies without any ‘opt-in’ elements as was previously required under Momentum.
One difference from the Sabre scheme is that with PFS agencies can opt to subscribe for “premium-level benefits” . Previously only available to Momentum agencies, these were formerly part of Business Builder Select and are designed to maximise sales with features including extra commission on brands owned by Galileo parent Cendant .
PFS is currently only available in the US. Sabre’s DCA Three Year Option also covers bookings that originate in Europe.
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