Finnair Launches Pre-Paid Seat Sales in Sabre

finnairFinnair has launched the ability to sell pre-paid seats in the Sabre global distribution system, Sabre reports, using industry standards. The same technology standards were used to provide Finnair the ability to sell pre-paid bags in Sabre's travel marketplace since 2012.

Travel agencies worldwide using the Sabre travel marketplace will have access to Finnair's pre-pay seats, Sabre says.

Finnair recently announced its new summer flight schedule, which begins March 30, 2014. Finnair will offer flights to three new seasonal destinations including, Pisa, Biarritz and Alanya. Finnair will also offer additional frequencies to Düsseldorf, Zürich, Antalya and Vaasa.

RELATED: Finnair's Summer Flight Schedule Begins March 30, 2014

In other new product news from Finnair, the airline is also planning new lounges and business class perks. Upgrades include a significant expansion to in-flight entertainment on all long-haul flights, an upgraded range of complimentary wines, beer and spirits in the Helsinki airport lounge and the continued retrofitting of fully-flat beds to the Business Class cabin.

RELATED: Airline Buzz - New Lounges, Business Class Perks From Finnair

Industry technology standards provide suppliers with the ability to quickly introduce†ancillary products†into the Sabre marketplace while ensuring travel agents and corporate travel buyers retain their ability to shop, book, and manage travel with the efficiency and price transparency they require, Sabre notes. These industry standards also support automatic accounting and reporting from airlines to ARC and BSP.

The specially marked seats will be clearly identified on the seat map, and the ancillary service will also be displayed in Shopping and Pricing.

Jani Peuhkurinen, head of global corporate sales and GDS distribution, said the Sabre travel marketplace is a valuable sales channel for Finnair and they look forward to continuing to sell any future ancillary products via Sabre.

"Sabre's extensive knowledge of the technology and industry standards required to make ancillary sales go smoothly has been of tremendous value to our team," Peuhkurinen said. "We look forward to working with Sabre to ensure all of our future ancillary products are available to travel agents around the world."

Sabre technology now connects 370,000 travel agents to more than 400 airlines, 125,000 hotels, 27 car rental brands, more than 50 rail providers, 16 cruise lines and other global travel suppliers. More than $100 billion of travel is purchased through this channel annually.

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