Crossed lines on transport booking code

Date: 09/01/1997

By Chris Johnstone

TRANSPORT officials will sideline a dispute between airlines and railways over how their services should be marketed by travel agents, in order to get proposed changes to a code of conduct on computer reservation systems back on track.

A revised code of conduct on reservation systems will be presented to the European Commission this month without dealing with the internecine transport dispute.

Airlines and railways are bickering over how their respective journey times should be shown on reservation screens used by travel agencies, following a recommendation by Commission officials that comparative services offered by both should be displayed on the same screen.

The argument is far from academic such booking sys-tems are the basic tool used by travel agents to check availability and reserve anything from flights and hotels to hire cars and all-in holidays.

The aim of including railways in the system is to allow travel agents and travellers to compare the rival attractions of train and air as Europe's high-speed rail network takes shape as a serious competitor.

However, railways insist that their travel times are shorter if city centre to city centre journeys and the absence of check-in delays are taken into account and want this to be reflected in comparisons between the two forms of travel.

Officials have had little joy in reconciling the two sides' arguments and now intend to leave these details to be sorted out at a later stage as the proposed reforms commute between the EU institutions.

Travel agents will also be brought within the scope of the code of conduct for the first time, ending an anomaly in the existing rules which means that they cannot be disciplined for failing to give unbiased advice to customers.