Rail looks for openings on small screen

Date: 21/11/1996

By Chris Johnstone

AIRLINES and railway companies are squabbling over the fine print of a European Commission proposal to change travel booking systems because each fears the other winning a competitive advantage.

Differences between the two sectors have surfaced over the Commission's suggestion in its computer reservation systems (CRS) review that train services be shown alongside equivalent air flights on travel agents' booking screens.

The aim is to provide passengers with the option, when available, of choosing between flying to their destination, or travelling on Europe's expanding network of high-speed trains.

Direct comparisons between airlines and railways are rare at the moment for the simple reason that the two modes of transport hardly ever appear on the same booking systems.

CRS systems are key marketing devices for airlines and account for about 80&percent; of their bookings. Many claim angrily that railways are climbing on board the systems in which they have invested heavily to develop and expand.

The current dispute centres on the precise way in which rail and air services should be shown together on screen.

The obvious solution is for similar departure times to the same destinations to be shown side by side, plus information on arrival times and connections.

However, railway companies are arguing that the time train passengers save by travelling directly to city centres should show up somewhere on the screen. This would show hundreds more rail services across Europe as viable alternatives to air travel by adding sometimes lengthy journeys to and from airports to airline travel times.

Commission officials are playing honest broker in the dispute, but say the technical arguments should not endanger the end-of-year deadline for the completion of the CRS review.

Consultations with CRS giants such as Galileo, Sabre and Amadeus have left most of the Commission's original proposals for amendments to its CRS code of conduct unchanged.

These include provisions to ensure potential passengers can track what the travel agent is doing more easily by giving them access to a printout of all the departure times consulted, or allowing them to shadow the alternatives being called up on a separate screen.

This is designed to encourage travel agents to identify the best deals for customers without thinking first about their commissions.

The code of conduct would also be widened to make it possible, for the first time, for the Commission to investigate complaints against travel agents.

Officials suggest the new wave of direct online Internet booking systems for air passengers pioneered by the likes of Lufthansa and British Midland will only come within the code of conduct if they offer information on fares other than their own.

They argue that surfers consulting an airline's own web site could be expected to treat its claims with caution. But comparisons with other airline fares would need to meet the code's criteria for fairness and non-discrimination.