The rise in Humanitarian and Missionary Travel, Educational Travel and Volunteer Travel (or Voluntourism) has created a new demand for niche discount airfare products, according to consolidator AFC Net. In response, airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Delta have revamped their net airfare programs to be more competitive and offer various niche-specific value-added benefits (i.e., three free checked pieces of luggage for Volunteer Travelers).
“Travel agents can still make good commissions and serve a purpose by selling our discount airfare products to qualified customers,” said AFC Net President Erik Skoog.
There are a host of industry-first features designed specifically for travel agents on the new AFC Net site:
• ‘Itinerary Builder’ allows agents to build multi-segment (up to 12) complex routes flight by flight and when pricing agents can compare up to three types of prices (niche, consolidator and published fares) all at the same time.
• Agents can complete the booking process entirely online and send their customers a personalized custom quote with their logo straight from the www.afcnet.com website.
• In addition to discount airfares, AFC Net recently added Net Hotel rates exclusively for travel agents.
• For added accuracy, the booking engine searches multiple GDSs simultaneously pulling the lowest net fares and published fares on both GDSs for price comparison.
• Agents can add their logos, set markups and print custom receipts through custom invoicing features.
• Filter general flight search by all airfare channels offered: humanitarian, student and general consolidator fares.
• TRAMS users: All reservations seamlessly import reservation data back into TRAMS ClientBase so you can print itineraries, generate invoices and store travel history for your client.
For more information, visit www.afcnet.com or call 866-650-6111.
