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More seats available: Tracking down non-ticketed PNRs and dupe bookings
Lufthansa Systems offers two IT tools which can be used to effectively identify non-ticketed PNRs and dupe bookings. Both tools support Airlines to achieve optimum capacity utilization with identifying passenger name records (PNRs) for which no ticket has been issued and multiple and dupe bookings which prevent available seats from being sold.

While SegmentCheck was developed by the IT service provider to help identify non-ticketed PNRs in the system, DupeCheck primarily focuses on discovering multiple bookings to the same destination. For this purpose, the reservation data from an airline connected to MultiHost, which integrates and automates all of an airline's core passenger-related processes, is stored in a special database (PaxBase) by Lufthansa Systems. SegmentCheck and DupeCheck automatically review all of this data every day to check for possible multiple bookings. To do this, the booking data in the database is analyzed based on a number of different criteria and forwarded to a transaction robot for further processing in the Global Distribution System (GDS).

Austrian Airlines, one of the MultiHost customers of Lufthansa Systems, has been a pilot partner for SegmentCheck since the summer of 2003. Just recently, the airline also began using DupeCheck. By checking for dupe bookings and non-ticketed PNRs, 2,000 of the 25,000 bookings on average can be released for sale again each day.

Through reduced GDS costs and a greater number of actual seat sales, SegmentCheck and DupeCheck offer airlines a clearly measurable potential for savings. Studies have shown that additional revenue in the amount of several million euros per year are possible here.

E-ticketing - A ticket to the future
Around ten years ago, the IT service provider introduced e-ticketing for Lufthansa under the brand name of "etix". Lufthansa thus became the first European airline to offer its customers the convenience of e-ticketing, and the number of tickets sold as e-tickets increased significantly during the last years. Lufthansa Systems is also responsible for implementing and operating the e-ticketing system integrated in its comprehensive MultiHost solution for Star Alliance carriers Austrian Airlines and British Midland. The same has applied to LOT Polish Airlines and Air Berlin as of this year. For Air Berlin, Lufthansa Systems developed the first e-ticketing solution that is independent of the implemented check-in solution.

However, in order for IATA's vision of the future to become a reality, the IT tools that are used must meet considerably higher demands, because it is also necessary for the complex e-ticketing processes of two or more cooperating airlines to be linked in what is known as electronic interlining (e-interlining). If an airline wants to offer e-ticketing for connections it operates together with other carriers, these other carriers must also be in a position to offer electronic ticketing. Additionally, it is necessary for an airline's e-ticketing database to be linked both to its own check-in system and to the check-in system of its partner airline. These areas are critical, because airlines must guarantee at least partially mutual access to data. Before this can happen, standardized e-ticketing processes have to be defined for the airlines so that relatively equal conditions can be established for e-interlining.

Based on its extensive process expertise in this area, Lufthansa Systems has developed a comprehensive solution which meets the complex requirements of e-interlining. For example, the Lufthansa Systems product complies with IATA and Star Alliance standards, which greatly facilitates the integration of new partners. Besides pure product development, the full-service IT provider also offers consulting services to airlines and can thus support its customers from the introduction of e-ticketing right through to their integration in e-interlining.

Lufthansa Systems is currently working on expanding e-interlining for the Star Alliance. In addition to the e-interlining connections to SAS and United Airlines, a link to Air Canada will be established this November.