This week BTE reports on the forum jointly organised in Brussels by the BATM and ACTE where self booking tools were the main topic of discussion, the airlines' anger at two more taxes aimed at their business and the popularity of one-way fares.
SAS introduced its version of one-way fares in September and they are proving very popular with travel managers, TravelpoolEurope has found.
The Scandinavian carrier was not the first - BA and bmi introduced them in several years back and of course the low cost carriers thrive on such business. But SAS was clever enough to give their version flexibility allowing passengers to travel, say, economy one way and another class on their return.
But as the TravelpoolEurope research shows, there can be problems and pitfalls for the unwary.
Technology may be the future but at the moment it does not deliver all that it might and current company online booking tools can not display one-way fares and return fares at the same time. This is a problem that KDS for one is aware of and is working to solve.
There was also the possibility that airline might not include such published fares in the target volume for corporates deals they have signed. This is a worry that could be solved by tightening up such deals.
Finally TravelpoolEurope found there was a danger that some agents, when booking two one-way fares rather than a simple return, charged two transactions fees.
BTE is shocked. Surely no agent would do that.