Virgin Australia launches Extra Legroom seats, pre-paid bags in Sabre

SOUTHLAKE, Texas, April 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre, a global technology company serving the travel industry, is now selling Virgin Australia's Extra Legroom Seats, pre-paid bags and unaccompanied traveler ancillaries in the Sabre global distribution system.

Shelly Terry, vice president of Supplier Merchandising for Sabre Travel Network, said the sale of ancillaries, such as pre-reserved seats continue to be a valuable revenue stream for airlines and provides travelers with more choices for their flight experience.

"Sabre has been investing in technology to support airlines' merchandising strategies for many years," Terry said. "The Sabre travel marketplace provides an invaluable platform for airlines to market and sell their products, and for agents to best serve leisure and business travelers."

The sale of ancillaries through the Sabre travel marketplace generates important cost savings for both agencies and airlines. By using one platform to sell multiple products, an airline can significantly reduce its IT costs. Additionally, travel consultants can improve their efficiency and customer service levels by shopping and booking airline ancillaries within Sabre.

Terry said Virgin Australia's decision to merchandise its ancillaries in Sabre shows the airline's long-term commitment to an open marketplace for air travel, which benefits airlines, agencies, travel managers and travelers, ensuring travel shopping remains competitive, transparent and easy.

Virgin Australia joins a growing list of airlines, including Air France-KLM, Qantas, SAS, Finnair, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Brussels Airlines, Aegean, Aeromexico, EL AL, easyJet, Lufthansa and US Airways, that have chosen to offer ancillary services and bundled fares through Sabre's travel marketplace and travel agencies.

About Sabre Travel Network

Travel Network is our global business-to-business travel marketplace and consists primarily of our global distribution system (GDS) and a broad set of solutions that integrate with the GDS.

This marketplace is used by travel suppliers including approximately 400 airlines, 125,000 hotel properties, 200 tour operators, 50 rail carriers, 27 car rental outlets and 16 cruise lines to promote, personalize and sell their products to travel management companies, corporate travel departments and approximately 400,000 travel agents, around the word. The marketplace includes a mobile-enabled platform for travel buyers to shop, price, book and pay for travel.  In addition, Sabre provides data-rich solutions that give travel buyers and suppliers unique insights into their operations as well as customer shopping and booking trends. GetThere® provides technology to corporations through its innovative online and mobile booking tools  available in 15 languages and is used by thousands of companies in more than 95 countries including, a majority of the Business Travel News Corporate Travel 100. Please visit www.sabretravelnetwork.com for more information.

Media Contact:

Nancy St. Pierre

Sabre

+1 682-605-3864

[email protected]

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SOURCE Sabre