Travelport Launches Solution for Airport Express Services

Travelport has launched a solution which allows airport express services to be offered to travel agency customers using a plugin on Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform.

Heathrow Express is the first customer to have signed up to be part of the service, which is now live.

Angus McIntyre, head of business development for Heathrow Express, said, “For our customers the Heathrow experience begins and ends when they step on or off our train at Paddington. Seamless travel - that's our aim. Travelport's new system will help us achieve that, as well as enabling us to reach many more potential customers booking through travel agencies.”

The solution means travel agents can now book electronic tickets for Heathrow Express using Travelport’s point of sale solution, Travelport Smartpoint.

In addition, travel agents will be able to offer travelers the same priced tickets on Heathrow Express services as those buying direct.

The application also:

• Enables multiple airport express service providers connectivity through a single application;
• provides all available classes of service to the agent;
• offers electronic ticketing; and
• automatically integrates PNR data.

Stephen O’Hara, Travelport’s Director of Rail, said, “This is really exciting news and a win-win for all parties concerned. Heathrow Express can reach more passengers, travel agents can offer a more effective end-to-end service for their customers and both will increase revenues as a result. Travelport is excited to be the first of any travel platform to be able to offer this solution in conjunction with Developer Connections Ltd and to be able to integrate access to this content onto Travelport Smartpoint. We’re also thrilled that our first partnership is with Heathrow Express. The new application is a great step forward and it’s an important part of many travelers’ journeys that simply wasn’t being addressed by traditional GDSs. We’re having extremely positive conversations with other airport express services all over the world and hope today’s announcement will be the first of many.”