Travelport merchandising platform enables ancillary shopping

By Kate Rice

Travelport has unveiled a new merchandising platform that enables comparison-shopping across all participating airline products — including ancillaries.

Travel agents can use the platform to shop and book traditional carriers who connect with Travelport via ATPCO (the traditional source of information about fares and availability) as well as airlines with which Travelport has an API connection.

Agencies can shop both types of carriers in a single display. This means agents don't have to go to airline websites to book ancillaries.

Products in this new platform include Air Canada’s ancillaries and fare groups, KLM Economy Comfort seating and pre-paid seating on British Airways. Agents can also book ancillary products for Alitalia, Air New Zealand and Aegean.

Earlier this month, Travelport launched Aggregated Shopping with EasyJet, which means Travelport agencies can now sell all EasyJet fares and ancillaries, including those that previously were available only on EasyJet's website.

Derek Sharp, Travelport's managing director of global distribution and sales, said the merchandising platform enables airlines to “go to market with all of their products in the right place, at the right time, in every channel.”

The ability to shop ancillaries as well as fares has been the holy grail for travel agencies and GDSs.

Sabre offers the ability to shop some airline ancillaries in its Sabre Red desktop, and Amadeus' Ancillary Services Solutions enables airlines to offer ancillaries to travel agents.