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Online distribution:low fares search

Grach MuradyanIT Account manager

ATO, May 2013, MOW

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Online user

GDS

Metasearch (Kayak, Aviasales, Yandex…)

OTA

Airline host / site

Low Fares SearchGeneral case: multiplication effect

GDS

different POS

multi GDS

Initial search request

OTAOTAOTA

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Low Fares Search OTAs in LFS: Yandex (no carriers)

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Low Fares SearchAirlines & OTAs in LFS: aviasales.ru (KL, LO, AB…)

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Low Fares SearchL2B: different approaches

» Various metrics could actually be used

» Net bookings measured in» Air segments

» PNRs

» Search requests measured based on» Number of customer (internet user) search requests / clicks

» OTA LFS requests sent to GDS / airline

» Central System transactions

» Each Web Service LFS call cascades many global core transactions

» Route Explorer

» Connection Builder

» Availability Server checks

» Fares calculation for each route available

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Low Fares SearchL2B monitoring: Web Services / EDIFACT level

» OTA search effectiveness sample: L2B = 672 search trx / tktd PNR» Range: from 450 to 2500 search requests per PNR created

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Low Fares SearchOTA typical activity: WS XML requests sent to GDS

» Traffic (GMT): daytime + evening search / booking activities

» Schedule driven servicing activities (e.g. queue processing)

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Low Fares Searchan OTA site overload

» Network problem resulting in » Transactions response delay / resending / traffic jump

» Site becoming out of service

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Low Fares Searchaviasales.ru: using 5 CRS systems

» Same internet user request in Metasearch potentially polled from » 5 reservation systems

» few OTAs in the same system

» few OIDs in the same OTA …on the same airline… L

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Low Fares SearchImpact on the airline host

» Response errors: critical level» airline host unable to process all coming (online search) requests

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» Effectiveness is defined (by OTAs) as a conversion rate

» Conversion rate is resulting from the ability to» Find a cheapest solution / provide booking recommendation

» Book the selected (found) recommendation

» A Metasearch itself not really influenced / concerned (pay per click)

» Natural contradiction - as a part of biz process:» Higher findability could involve risky options (e.g. last seat available)

» Resulting in rejection from airline while attempting to book

Low Fares SearchEffectiveness: findability vs. bookability

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» Airline offering dialectics: a full cycle completed » Thesis - uniform distribution for all markets

» No biz logic used by airline host

» Antithesis – the offering depends on the requestor POS

» Some markets could bring more revenue

» OTA response – a few POS used for the same search request

» Synthesis – carrier using POC / POJ logics (and not POS anymore)

» Airline strategy adjustment to online sales

» “Whatever OTA POS, end user request is most likely coming from POC”

» Airline commission: differences between markets» OTAs monitor / move sales according to the airline commission

policy

Low Fares SearchFindability: carriers vs. OTAs

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» Rejection scenario» Recommendations are provided to online user as a result of LFS

» User chooses one of them & tries to book

» Airline sends a reject in response to the booking attempt

» Rejects major source – last seat availability scenario, but also» Different data sources & logics applied for availability and sell stages

» Complex RMS rules (e.g. airline internal logic not reflected in AVS)

» Rejection major reasons» Airline content quality in the GDS data base

» Search sources tuning & balancing

» OTAs web site internal biz logics

Low Fares SearchBookability: what is inside ?

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» Availability / schedule content quality problem» GDS Central System not updated by the airline

» Polling limitations

» Impacting the airline host

» Sometimes not feasible at all or polling not signed by the airline

Low Fares SearchBookability: content

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» Four data sources for online availability info in Amadeus

» AVS and nAVS typeB messages sent by airlines (event driven)

» MR tag as an option to allow poll for critical flights

» Poll (EDIFACT) messages sent to airline host

» Cache, populated by

» Polling airline inventory

» Rejects from the airline while trying to book

» Availability calculator, using biz logics & data provided by airline

Low Fares SearchBookability: search data sources balancing

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» OTA site algorithm / search logics optimisation, e.g. » One passenger in one search request

» N passengers in the same search request

Low Fares SearchBookability: OTA site biz logics

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» Involved risks» 100% pull approach vs. current (AVS/nAVS) push option

» Processing volumes jump on airline servers

» Huge traffic increase in case of XML vs. EDIFACT

» LFS: current GDS search biz process to be reproduced by each OTA

» Search / rank in order to compare proposals

» Connections creations within LFS (or direct flights only ?)

» Number of links increase – OTA to big airlines (benefiting) mainly

» Possible consequences » No “neutral” approach: limitation of the proposals

» Competition decrease as a general outcome

Low Fares Search Industry trends: direct distribution

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gmuradyan@amadeus.ru