Dear Sabre,
I know many people pit us as enemies. But I consider us more like longstanding colleagues who often disagree, but still show up the next day for a game of checkers. OK maybe we’re unlikely to sit and play checkers… but my point is, and I hope you’d agree that, throughout our ups and downs, we have managed to handle our disagreements with professionalism and respect as relates to publicized debates. We have even ended up as compadres on some industry issues!
And so, it is in the spirit of highest professional regard, and in recognition of our mutual professional standards, that I have to call you out on something you did.
I am talking about a presentation given at a GBTA sponsored web-conference held on March 24th. Titled End to End Ancillary Services: A Managed Travel View, the conference included presentations from Sabre, ATPCO and ARC. It was billed as an educational forum for corporate travel managers to gain information and insights into the world of airline merchandising and its impact on the corporate travel market.
I listened intently as the Sabre representative started with an overview, that for the most part, I actually agreed with. But when the topic of Direct Connects came up, my friend ventured into the world of bizarro. Now we all realize that this new Direct Connect concept is a really sensitive subject for Sabre and others, but by now I think we can all expect a well thought out and factual overview, especially from my buddy Sabre. As you publicly state, Sabre has been doing direct connects and XML for years. So when the Direct Connect topic arose during this webinar, I expected so much more from you.
Unfortunately the audience received something that could have not been much further from a realistic discussion on the new movement of Direct Connects. I found myself slightly embarrassed for Sabre, and they certainly have nothing to be embarrassed about. They run a very profitable travel technology business! As an industry leader they have every opportunity to make truthful and technically competent presentations about direct connects… but they didn’t.
Rather, Sabre presented a slide that was, I suppose, an attempt to demonstrate the status quo of data connections from airlines to ATPCO to GDS and finally to travel agencies- all nicely documented and orderly… UNTIL the concept of Direct Connects was introduced. In very dramatic fashion, red arrows and lines swooped in and out from all directions, leaving the slide looking like a plate of spaghetti. It was absolute chaos. The point Sabre was apparently attempting to make was that Direct Connect would introduce hundreds of rouge new data flows and connections, and according to the diagram, these new chaotic data flows were going in all directions, many going in opposite directions, running into each other and even a few going absolutely nowhere. See for yourself:
It was definitely one of the most bizarre things I have seen in a very long time. The diagram, and the narrative of it, was simply an amazing display of technical inaccuracy and false representations. And frankly Sabre, as a technology company, should know better. I can even cut Sabre a bit of slack for maybe not fully understanding the real workings of modern XML Direct Connect – but if you don’t know, find out. I am happy to share some real technical diagrams and data flows with anyone at Sabre.