Worldspan, L.P. has cast a new footprint in ticket repricing technology with the introduction of Worldspan Rapid Reprice Select (patent pending). The next-generation solution unites key features of Worldspan e-Pricing, the global leader in low-fare shopping technology, with the core Rapid Reprice ticket repricing tool, the travel industry’s first solution to automate the time-consuming process of repricing airline tickets when traveler itineraries change. The result is another dynamic industry-first tool that lets travel buyers retrieve up to five alternative low-fare itineraries, make a selection and rebook a trip - all in a single transaction, in seconds.

  Rapid Reprice Select is available to Worldspan’s U.S. travel agency,

e-commerce and airline customers. Capabilities currently apply to travel itineraries with a U.S. point of sale and travel within the United States. Product features will expand to enable shopping and repricing of itineraries with a U.S. point of sale to destinations worldwide.

  “Worldspan has raised the bar on ticket repricing technology to a whole new level with the release of this product,” said Sue Powers, Worldspan chief information officer and senior vice president - Worldwide Product Solutions. “Sustained innovations in fares and pricing are key to helping our customers attract and retain new business, reduce their operational costs and deliver traveler services that are unmatched in the industry.”

  Rapid Reprice Select allows travel agents, airline reservations agents, and Web site customers to make changes to a ticketed itinerary and retrieve not only one alternative but up to four additional low-fare itinerary options, for a total of up to five new itineraries. New options are integrated into an easy-to-read display, each reflecting an accurate, completely recalculated price, including appropriate fares, taxes, additional collections, refunds, penalties or administrative fees. Users simply select their favored option and Rapid Reprice Select completes the rebooking instantly.

  Through an enhancement to be released this fall, users will gain added flexibility to shop alternatives for an itinerary that has not yet been modified. Original flight segments can be selected to shop all-new travel dates and destinations, as well as other parameters. Rapid Reprice Select will retrieve up to five low-fare options and process a rebooking once a new itinerary option is selected from the group.

  Worldspan’s exclusive pricing engine and comprehensive fares and rules database support Rapid Reprice Select transactions, automatically researching old and new fares and rules, and displaying new itinerary options. Users can complete the shopping and repricing process in less than one minute. By comparison, manual processing involved in shopping and repricing an itinerary requires up to 30 minutes and hundreds of keystrokes.

  Rapid Reprice Select technology helps travel companies achieve significant time and cost savings by decreasing the look-to-book ratio, or the number of transactions that are initiated and successfully completed. The technology eliminates the need to conduct separate shopping and repricing requests to find more than one alternative for travelers, and service to travelers is greatly enhanced by the speed and accuracy in presenting several itinerary options with definitive prices. Travel Web sites are advantaged, as are their customers, by allowing online travel buyers to change their itineraries online without phone calls or intervention from customer service representatives.

  The core Worldspan Rapid Reprice product was introduced to the travel industry in 2001. E-Pricing was introduced in 2002 as the GDS industry’s first multi-server-based low-fare shopping tool. Both products are in use by major airlines, travel agencies and the majority of the largest travel Web sites. Worldspan continues to set new industry standards with both solutions.

Worldspan has also been nominated at this year’s World Travel Awards in the category of World’s Leading GDS.
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