Business Travel News - March 3, 2008 - (Page 26)

NEWS Buyers Deploy Networking Technology community forums enabling users Meanwhile, Sabre plans to launch to “create, link and edit experiby mid-2008 its Cubeless social net- ences,” said Robert Greyber, senior working platform, which will reside vice president of ECT in North in GetThere as an application mod- America. The platform is an open ule, as do its meetings and ground network available at corporatetravtransportation booking applications. elconsultant.com. BCD Travel and HRG expect to Sabre has used Cubeless internally for about six months and said it has deliver social networking solutions loaded more than 10,000 user pro- later this year and non-mega travel files into the system. Sabre Travel management companies, including Studios, the company’s emerging Columbus, Ohio-based Travel Solutechnology research and develop- tions and Omaha, Neb.-based Travment team, developed the platform. el and Transport, have said they are American Express in the coming working on providing forums months will test the platform with through their travel portals. a small group of clients before more Westinghouse’s Cooper sees the new solution as “a tremendous opportunity to inform or correct misinformation and let someone who has questions see the rationale behind policy decisions. Oftentimes, policy directives DAN COOPER come from the top Westinghouse supplier relations manager down and are not the most well received. widescale deployment, said head of These peer-to-peer communication public affairs Alicia Tillman. forums give the opportunity to not Cubeless will be available to Get- only hear from management but There users and there are no defin- from colleagues who can reinforce itive plans for further rollouts, ac- behaviors.” cording to Sabre senior vice Cisco travelers can deliver feedpresident for North America Chris back to the travel department or ask Kroeger. questions about booking problems “From a phasing perspective, it’s or reservation restrictions using a going to come to our separate application customers first and Visit the BTN Archive within GetThere. see btnonline.com/archive then over time we’ll Those travelers resee how that works out,” according ceive a response within 24 hours to Kroeger. The company still is de- from the travel team and “if we feel termining the Cubeless pricing mod- that it’s something that belongs in el and is considering such models the forum and a lot of travelers are as subscription, user licensing or asking, then we’ll take the question advertising. from the traveler and put it on the CWT president and CEO Hubert forum ourselves,” said Cisco travel Joly said in February that the com- buyer Lichtenstein, citing an inpany is developing networking op- stance when travelers’ posted quesportunities that can alert travelers tions about visa procedures and to coworkers on the same flight or at communications were distributed the same destination through its “in- via the travel blog, forums and telligent itinerary” tool. newsletter. “If it’s a big enough isExpedia Corporate Travel, on sue,” she said, “ I’ll create a blog March 3 is launching a “Wiki” plat- around it.” form for user-generated content and ■ sharris@btnonline.com ■ Continued from page 24 WASHINGTON WIRE AMTRAK TO DEPLOY AIRPORT-LIKE SECURITY Passengers on Amtrak, the national rail passenger line and a popular mode for business travelers in the Northeast, now face security similar to that encountered at airports, officials said, as Amtrak will begin randomly searching passengers’ bags and deploy armed guards with bomb-sniffing dogs on trains and platforms. The announcement wasn’t made in response to a specific terrorism threat, it said. Amtrak carries about 25 million passengers annually on its rail network, an average of 67,000 per day. BUSH AGAIN TAKES AIM AT AMTRAK SUBSIDY President George W. Bush’s final budget proposal, made last month, renews his request to slash Amtrak’s federal subsidy by 38 percent to $800 million. Similar efforts in the past have died in Congress. Reducing the subsidy, which amounts to 40 percent of the national passenger railroad’s budget, is “significant but necessary,’’ the White House said in its budget request to Congress. The administration said Amtrak “continues to hemorrhage taxpayer funds.” Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Subcommittee said the president’s budget would “in effect shut down the national passenger railroad system.” Analysts predicted Congress again would reject the cuts. The Bush budget would reduce funding for the Federal Aviation Administration by 2 percent to $14.6 billion, seeks $688 million for capital improvements to the air traffic control system, up from a request of $175 million last year and increases the airline security fee by up to $1 per one-way trip. “Peer-to-peer forums give the opportunity to hear both from management and colleagues, who can reinforce behaviors.” RUNWAY INCURSIONS MAY REACH RECORD, FEDS SAY Federal authorities warned that serious near-collisions on airport runways due to incursions may reach a six-year high. There were 10 serious incidents from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31., Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel III told a congressional panel Feb. 13. That compares to two in the same period last year. There were 24 serious incidents in all of fiscal 2007, a record low, and 371 incidents overall. Congressional interest in curtailing runway incursions have stepped up since House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) last year ordered a Government Accountability OfCALVIN SCOVEL III fice study that concluded that the U.S. DOT inspector general Federal Aviation Administration wasn’t doing enough to prevent them. Hank Krakowski, COO of FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, responded with testimony to the House subcommittee on aviation that reducing the risk of runway incursions is one of FAA’s top priorities. He told the committee that the number of serious runway incursions has dropped by more than 55 percent since fiscal year 2001. Among other things, FAA is testing a light system that warns pilots when runways are occupied, Krakowski said. — Patty Donmoyer 26 Monday, March 3, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://corporatetravelconsultant.com http://corporatetravelconsultant.com http://btnonline.com/archive http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - March 3, 2008

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008
Industry Masters Eye Travel 2.0
BA, Virgin To Pay For Surcharge Collusion
Inside Track: Continental Gives SEC M&A Outlook
Profiles In Travel Management: Powering Savings
Buyers Embrace Midprice Hotels
BTN Research: Deploying Midprice Strategies
Aviation: WestJet’s Bureau Woos Corp. Canada
Hotels Foresee Slower Revenue Growth
Lodging: Hotel Revenue Up, but Growth to Slow
Meetings Today: Quantifying Attendee Feedback
Corporate Travel World: Blakey to Keynote
BCD, HRG Expand Super-PNR Tests
Travel Technology: Super-PNRs Further Evolve
Executive Dashboard: Saturday-Stays Reborn
Washington Wire: Amtrak Tightens Security

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008