Amadeus - Kuwait

PAGE 2

• SaudiArabiananAirlineonAlteaReservation

• RoyalJordanianpartnershipwithAmadeus

• AmadeusSignsfullcontentagreementwithLufthansaand

SwissAir

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• AmadeusCheckMytriponMobile,FacebookandBlackberrytofurtherempowerstravelers

• KTTAAnewboardmembers

• AirlinePNRClaim

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• Introduction–AqueelHazi-Product&SolutionSpecialist

• E-Power-AddnewRevenuestream,GOOnline

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• QualityControl-Automateyourbusinesspracticesandbusinessondemand

• AmadeusSMS–Flightstatusdirectlytoyourcustomer24/7

• TravelSouk–MarketinformationArcade.

Issue 1 > May 2010

NewsletterEditorialI would like to introduce the first ASC - Amadeus Newsletter. This is intended to be a quarterly publication that will inform, update, and educate you on the latest, that Amadeus has to offer the Kuwaiti Travel Market.

The landmark 2008 agreement between Amadeus and 12 major Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) Carriers increases by several fold the value you can offer to your customers in terms of booking transparency, claim PNR, waiting list confirmations, and up to date fares and taxes from not just the major European Carriers, but also from the major Regional carriers.

2009 was a difficult year for the travel industry among other industries. Faced with challenges as the health pandemic, and the economic crisis, Kuwait market showed it resilience by defying worldwide trends in business contractions, and in successfully managing change, to make Amadeus the market’s leading GDS by the end of the year. For this we are truly grateful to our loyal travel agency customers.

As we enter into the second quarter of 2010, ASC has implemented several changes in the interest of differentiating Amadeus products and services. The benefits to our customers include a Product Specialist to bring innovative solutions to the Kuwait market, a Marketing Executive dedicated to informing and educating travel agencies on the value and impact of Amadeus technology and ASC innovation to the travel agency’s bottom line, a Customer Relations Champion to enrich customer interaction with ASC, and a Quality Control Unit to assure the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

I would like to thank you all for your support, and hope that you enjoy the Newsletter.

Hani Al SalemASC General Manager

ATM Arabian Travel Market takes place from 4-7th May 2010 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Check Out Amadeus StallHALL # 5 Amadeus Booth # TT 20

News 3 2 News

Saudi Arabian Airline Altéa Reservation successful deployment On April 11th 2010 Saudi Arabian airline, one of the leading airlines in Middle East have announced deployment of Amadeus-Altéa Reservation.

The latest evolution of Amadeus

Altéa Reservation gives travel

agents, access to complete Saudian

airline content and its internal applications via single screen.

Travel agents can process any travel booking request, including Umra

& Hajj Group bookings and handle any customer query via a single

screen. In addition, it is allowing seamless integration with airlines’

internal applications. This helps airlines to streamline and improve

their sales/reservation processes at airport and city ticket office. It

means productivity is increased and sales are maximized through

easy and efficient booking workflows. Since the implementation of

Altéa Reservation Desktop began, Saudi Arabian Airlines has seen

significant improvements and efficiency in booking process.

Royal Jordanian signs with Amadeus to pursue growth and modernisation Altéa selected to underpin expansion and provide updated IT infrastructure.

Royal Jordanian adopted the

full Amadeus Altéa Customer

Management and ecommerce

suite of solutions and announce

a 10 year IT partnership with

Amadeus. Altéa will enable

Royal Jordanian to manage all

reservations, inventory and departure control from a single, new

generation technology platform.

Royal Jordanian President and CEO Hussein Dabbas. said “The

decision to move to Altéa was made because we can ensure all

our customer management functions are based on a future-proof

platform that can deliver on our commercial priorities.”

Amadeus signslong-term full content agreement with Lufthansa and SWISS AIR

Amadeus, Lufthansa German Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines

have signed a long-term full content agreement. Travel agents can now

access Lufthansa and SWISS AIR full content through Amadeus.

The full range of Lufthansa and SWISS fares, schedules and inventory

made available through the Amadeus system will be the same, and

under the same conditions, as that offered through any indirect or

direct channel, distribution provider or website.

Amadeus enriches CheckMyTrip by launching mobile version and announces pilot applications to further empower travelers • Web-based platform lets travellers view most up-to-date travel

plans at any point in their trip via mobile phone• Applications in pilot for Face book, iPhone and Blackberry

The launch of CheckMyTrip for Mobile comes as part of the ongoing development of the

CheckMyTrip web-based platform (http://www.checkmytrip.com) which enables business

and leisure travellers to check the most up-to-date travel itineraries plans via the internet,

including amended or cancelled flights.

To access CheckMyTrip for Mobile users simply need an internet-enabled mobile phone,

an Amadeus booking reference number. They type www.checkmytrip.com into their mobile browser and will then be prompted for their

Amadeus reservation number.

- CheckMyTrip application for Face book allowing with a Facebook account to install an application to import and share travel plans booked

on the Amadeus system.

- CheckMyTrip for the Blackberry® platform Amadeus is conducting trials to introduce CheckMyTrip to the popular SamrtPhone.

- CheckMyTrip for iPhone allowing users to download and install an application on their iPhone to view their itineraries.

KTTAA

Kuwait Travel and Tourism Agencies Association

KTTAA objective is to develop and raise the standards of travel and tourism services, also to protect legal interests of the members relating to travel & tourism affairs. They offer training to new and existing employees of the travel agency to enhance there skills. On January 28th 2010 KTTAA announced new board members .Wishing them all continued success in future endeavors with KTTAA in the years to come.

1-Mr Khalid Alhamad – Chairman 2-Mr Mohammed Lafi AlMutairi3-Mr.Ahmad Abdulwahab AlFahad4-Mr Suliman Mohammed AlMirjah5-Mr Abdulaziz Jasem Burhmah6-Mr Hussain Mohammed Al Azmi7-Mr Khalaf Abdullah Ismail 8-Mr Ahmad Al Ghaith

“Amadeus Introduces PNR Claim in Kuwait Travel Market”New Functionalities offer significant business advantage to travel agents using Amadeus in Kuwait.

Amadeus announced that travel agents in Kuwait can now benefit from Passenger Name Record (PNR) claim functionality from many Airlines through Amadeus. It contributes to the preferred content of the airline that Amadeus is offering its partner agencies. This feature is accessible to all travel agents in Kuwait Market.

A PNR is the record containing details of a passenger’s reservation (Name, itinerary, contact, ticket number, special service request e.t.c) and can be created in the airlines computer reservation system or directly in GDS.

TravelagentscanclaimPNRSofthefollowingAirlinesonAmadeusSystem

DO YOU KNOW!!More than 155 Airlines uses the same Amadeus system as Travel Agents for all its pricing, availability and PNR management. The airline and the Travel agents use the same Fare Quote engine, access the same information pages and Frequent flyer profiles.

• KuwaitAirways • AmericanAirline

• ContinentalAirline • DeltaAirways

• USairways • KingfisherAirline

• YemeniaAirways • SwissAir

• VirginAtlantic

Products 5 4 Products

Our current issueIn this issue on Amadeus Products and Solutions, Muhammad Aqueel, Products and Solutions Specialist, explains how

the Amadeus can help the travel agencies increase revenue, make operations effective and reduce operating costs.

The business structure of the travel and tourism industry has undergone incredible changes over the last decade

especially with the emergence of the Internet. New technologies have improved the current business process

tremendously and had a major impact on transforming the travel industry.

Amadeus goes beyond expressed needs to offer you a solution portfolio that helps anticipate the future. As your

technology provider, Amadeus delivers the right solution to help prove value to your customers and therefore

strengthen your market leadership.

Amadeus is committed to provide a wide variety of industry-leading

products and solutions that increases the functionality, productivity

and profitability of travel management companies handling both

business travel and leisure customers.

Some of the core benefits that our solutions portfolio offers are • Creating the perfect fit – the tailored solution for your specific

business needs.• Access to functional consultants with key expertise of the travel distributor environment and the Amadeus product

portfolio.• Minimised risk from using experienced Amadeus resources and

Amadeus Products and Solutions.• Controlled cost because we build on existing industry solutions.

E-PowerE-Power is an Internet Booking Engine for travel agencies and travel

portals, by which their clients can book air, hotel, car and travel

and liesure packages online. E-Power has a user-friendly interface,

so it’s easy for your customers to check schedules and fares, make

bookings, and access travel information. E-Power drives conversions

online while controlling your operating costs. Your business is travel

and ours is technology. Reservations made by your customers

through E-Power are automatically queued to a Travel Agency

Internet Office ID for further processing, leaving you to concentrate

your energies on growing high-value sales.

In addition, all the relevant information from the user’s profile is

automatically transferred to the PNR.

The internet penetration rate in Kuwait is 35%. The internet has

been one of the factors to drive sales for budgeted airlines such as

Jazeera and Air Arabia. On the other hand, increased competition

within the travel industry and growing consumers demands have

forced travel agencies need to explore new revenue streams.

Taking your business online is interesting as well as challenging.

With an online sales department in place and enhanced customer

satisfaction, you will definitely experience a surge in your revenues.

E-Power is a complete and advanced online booking engine that

can be customized to the agency’s own look and feel, functionality

and preferences that can be deployed within 4 working weeks at an

affordable budget. E-Power makes the booking process simple and

easy, driving conversions on your own website. E-Power allows your

customers to easily and securely book air, hotels, car and packages

online - converting lookers to bookers. I am confident that with

E-Power in use, we foresee immediate growth in online revenue

with in a short span of time.

Product Features

Online and Offline Payment methods

Instant e-Ticket, Book Only Option

Advanced Customization and Branding

Low Cost Carrier Content

External Profile Database support

User based Permissions

Agencies Special Travel Deals

Service Fee Management

Portal Performance Report

Multilanguage Support

Fare Driven & Schedule Driven Searches

IP Restriction, Portal Referrer Restriction

External Payment Gateways

Amadeus Quality ControlIn the increasing competitive climate for travel agencies it is more

important than ever that you implement quality, consistency and

accuracy across your business processes. Amadeus Quality Control is a

flexible solution that will enable you to better manage your business

practices and guarantees total quality of every reservation. Integrated

with Amadeus Selling Platform and fully adapted to the agency’s own

business needs and processes, Amadeus Quality Control ensures you

maximise the efficiency of every sale.

Integrated with Amadeus Selling Platform, Amadeus Quality Control

helps to increase the productivity of your agents through the

systematic checking of every PNR at the time of booking, fare quoting

or ticketing Agents are reassured that the right information is captured

at the right time, avoiding manual errors and reducing any PNR re-work

that might otherwise be required. And since quality check rules and administration are managed centrally, you can be sure that every PNR is

compliant to agency standards. With Amadeus Quality Control, agents are free to focus more on their core activities – serving the customer!

Maximise your revenues:• Up- and cross-selling opportunities: You can automatically propose, for example, a car or hotel booking with pre-filled information when the traveler

stays more than one day in the same location.

• Enforced booking on selected providers; preferred suppliers or one-off special deals can be highlighted to the agent at the time of the booking.

• Assured data quality allows you to work faster because all information is correct the first time

• Customisable to your specific business needs:

• Customer Service is improved as rules can be associated down to traveler or company profile level

• Unlimited number and type of rules - can be associated to any element of the PNR

Amadeus SMSThe Amadeus SMS Solution was developed for the purpose of sending

SMS text messages from the Amadeus Selling Platform to the

traveller’s mobile phone. The Amadeus SMS Application can send the

itinerary, Agency’ promotions or free text messages to the traveller’s

mobile. The application is capable to track the flight status for your

travellers and update them about the changes in real time even if your

travellers are on move.

The Amadeus SMS Application consists of Amadeus SMS Client and

the Amadeus Flight Stats. Amadeus SMS Client is a Multilanguage

application is accessible from the Selling Platform to send the itinerary

information to your travellers mobile phone. You can also send your

promotions and free text messages to your travellers’ mobile phone.

Amadeus Flight Stats helps you track the status of flight segments,

departures, arrivals , airport delays, flight and airport information for

your travellers in real time.

“The Amadeus SMS Software is a multi tasking application capable of

sending the booking itinerary, our specials deals and promotions and

also monitors flights for my customers. It has and is adding a great

value to our customer service and has made our operations more

effective. My first priority is service to my customers, and that looks

very impressive now.”

Travel SoukTravel Souk was conceived to ‘Serve the Travel Industry’ by providing

reliable mass communications medium between the Airlines and the

Travel Agencies. It was designed and developed with an objective

to give the travel agencies a single medium to receive messages,

promotions and market fares in real time from the Airlines.

Benefits to Travel AgenciesOne stop bulletin board: Travel-Souk provides your agency with

instant online information on Travel Suppliers, advisories, market

fares and various other special promotions. These instant updates

give you more opportunities to service your clients.

Direct Information: The information on Travel-Souk is uploaded

and updated by the Airlines/Other Suppliers directly, so you can be

confident that you are looking at the most reliable and up to date

information in real time

Instant Alerts: Receive an instant alert as soon as the supplier

uploads or updates advisory, promotion or a fare. Travel-Souk is an

ideal medium over which to receive information that impacts your

business and customers.E-Power gives you the low-cost, easy way to help you build your business online. Join the online travel revolution!

Muhammad AqueelProducts and Solutions

Specialist

Guidelines 7 6 Guidelines

Important Do’s

Ensure passenger names are identical to travel documents & passports.

Please check GGPCALNCC and also GGAIRXX (or direct with the carrier) for name change policy and to gain name change authorities for each carrier in the PNR. Amadeus will not be held responsible for any cancellation of bookings by the airlines, as a result of legal name change.

When making last minute bookings or changes ensure Record Locator Return in the PNR and ensure ticket numbers are present prior to the flight going under airport control (depends on airline access level).

Delete rather than cancel (XE) all inactive segments with status codes HX/NO/UC/UN.

It is recommended you advise ticket numbers well in advance of the airline’s auto- TTL in case of messaging delays. In cases of last minute booking we recommend you contact the airline directly with ticket numbers.

Those airlines without auto-TL , suggest to create an OSI/SSR element to advise of your intended ticketing date.ExampleOSYY TKTL 15SEP OR OSAI TKTL 1200/15SEPSROTHSYY-TKTL15SEP OR SROTHSMH-TKTL1200/15SEP(YY - to advise all airlines / MH - for specific airline only)

Refer to either GGPCALFUN or GGPCAXX to check if the airlines in your PNR accept Ticket Number Transmission. If they do, ensure that an FA element with the ticket number is returned to your PNR before you make any PNR modifications. If the FA is not returned please contact Amadeus Help-Desk.

To save transaction always do Receive( RF name) and End transaction and retrieve( ER )

Important Do’s

In SPLIT PNR most carriers return a RLR ,exceptional cases with in 4 hours, apart from standard access carriers which may take up to 12 hours.If a RLR isn’t returned please contact your Amadeus help desk.Check with airline if PNR contains more than one RLR from the same airline.Check time of RLR history (RLH) and PNR history (RH) to ensure modifications have been acknowledged by airline

Cancel all inactive or unwanted SSR, OSI & RM elements in PNR to prevent confusion.Contact numbers should be put in OSIYY.

Ensure that no duplicate bookings are already created for same passenger.Verify passenger’s name by RT/PAX NAME.It is recommended to query your customers if they have already made booking else where before Commencing your PNR.All multiple bookings where it seems impossible or unlikely that the passenger takes both flights be considered as duplicate in airline’s systems.

Use the direct access availability display to book a seat on the airline participating in Direct Access (*) level. The seat is guaranteed upon end transaction (ET).Example1YYAD 24MAR KWICMB(YY- two letter airline code).

Ensure that name and flight details exactly match the airline’s PNR.If you wish to cancel the live airline booking you will need to contact the airline office, not just XE the passive segments.

Check queues regularly, The command to see the Queue Bank is QT

ASC- Amadeus proudly recognize 100% Amadeus users in Kuwait Travel MarketWe would like to appreciate travel partners for there continuous support and ASC-Amadeus proudly recognize Amadeus exclusive users in Kuwait Travel Market.

Sultan Travel Hawally: MrHuassainAssi“our travel agency converts to Amadeus Exclusive for professional service and friendly Help Desk staff”.

Burgan Travels: MrAbdulKarim “Amadeus is the easiest GDS, when it come to entries”.

ALMasader Travel : MrFareedonFakhrai “Amadeus is an Airline system ,it is transparent for travel agents”.

Alathla Travel: MrZaminNaqvi “Appreciate long term business relation with ASC-Amadeus that conclude at professional support & expert services”.

Al Sawan Holidays: MrOsamaM.Beitamouni “Amadeus has the best products portfolio ,used by the Airline and travel agencies”.

Syed Travel Surra: MrMohammedHaitem “Amadeus is user friendly GDS on both GUI & Cryptic”.

Salhiya World Travel ( Zain) : MrAmirAlNuss “Absolute accurate Fare search engine”.

Asfar Travel: MsAmani “Amadeus has complete products and solution for travel Market”.

Frequently Asked What is the past dated fare display entry? FQDKWILON/ABA/D10FEB10**25FEB10/R,01FEB10

How to price a PNR with carrier code? FXP/R,VC-XX where XX is the carrier code

How to force the fare with fare basis?(manual fare) FXP/L-YEE4M where YEEM is the fare basis

How to insert FO for Infant tickets FOINF(TICKET NUMBER)

How to insert child tag for the already created pnr FDCH/(PASSENGER NO)

How to insert the foid entry in the pnr SRFOID(AIRLINE CODE)HK1-PP(PASSPORT NO)

How to insert Form of payment with additional cost FPO/CASH+/CASH

How to insert Frequent flyer card FFN(AIRLINE CODE)-CARD NO

How to price Deportee with KW tax exempted FXP/RDEP,ET-Kw

How to Price GP letter fare FXP/RGVT

Entry to update BSR Rate TTK/K1(BSR rate)

Entry to find out 3 letter nationaly code DC (Country name)

Entry for Planned Flight Information DO Flight number eg. DO KU352

entry to check local time in london DDLONDON

over ride validation carrier TTP/V*EK

display query report for specific airline tjq/sof/qvp-ba

display refund documents tjq/sof/qtc-rfnd

email unauthorized WM/

check ITN Status ERK

LPO-entry by agent sign LPO/S(SIGN)D(DATE)

Important Don’t

Don’t use fictitious passenger names or speculative segments to block space to facilitate future booking requests.

Don’t cancel an HL (Waitlist) segment and rebook the same flight as HK (confirmed) in one transaction as it may cause confusion and reject in the airline’s system. It is recommended to do this in two separate transactions.

Don’t insert passenger contact with AP. It should be with OS exampleOS YY PAX CTC home -99999999

Don’t cancel and rebook segments for the purpose of extending the airline’s ticket time limit as it is considered system abuse by carriers and may result in PNR cancellation.

Don’t create passive (PK) segments unless there is genuine need for ticketing

Don’t modify Segments when PNR is localized or taken over by airlines.

Never rebook a flight that has already been rejected as UN, NO, or UC status.

Don’t insert duplicate ticket number in SSR/OSI, if FA/FH elements already exist.

Important Don’t

Don’t make any modifications to a PNR in the same transactionas a split.

Don’t use any of these special characters / symbols (*’..,;:$) in AP, OSI & SSR fields in the PNR. They are not recognized by the airline’s systems; hence they can be rejected upon transmission.

Don’t re-use an inactive PNR which has expired.Instead, you may use the RRP entry to copy the passenger’s data to create a new PNR.

With Party of 4 passenger in a PNR do not request Special Service Request with out the Passenger specification. Instead state passenger numberExample SR VGML/P1

Don’t use SB entry to rebook flights originally booked in Standard Access. Cancel and Rebook in two transactions. The airline may have the rights to reject sales with status code -US- with in 12 hours. Refer to GGPCAXX for access level.

Don’t create test PNRs only for pricing purposes, Instead you can create PNRs with GK segment or use the Amadeus pricing by mask functionality (FQP/S option).

IFA TRAVEL : MrEmadJber “IFA Travel decided to work 100 % with Amadeus due to unique solutions that caters our needs”.

AlAwali Travel : MrKhalidAlhamad “ Amadeus advance technology benefits travel agency to enhance there skills. Ecommerce Products Ideally suited for Travel Industry”.

Al Yousifi Travel: MrAhmedAdel “Amadeus is complete GDS, with Fares and ticketing accuracy in short it’s the Future of Travel Industry ”.

Canary Travel: MrBaselAl-Tasabehji “Amadeus Reissue is the easiest compare to other GDS”.

Reservation Guidelines - Do’s & Don’ts

Amadeus Help Desk1-888-272

Amadeus Salesae@asc-me.net

Amadeus Product & Solutionssolutions@asc-me.net

www.amadeus.com/kwAutomated Systems Co.P.O. Box: 27159, Safat 13132 KuwaitTel.: +965 24822286Fax: +965 24824300www.asc-me.net

8 Announcement

Customer Care professionalsTo service our valued customers ASC-

Amadeus help desk is open from 08:00am

till 08:30 pm Saturday to Thursday and

4:00pm till 8:00 pm on Friday, There are 8

customer service experts to assist you.

Customer Quality AssuranceThe Customer Quality Assurance (CQA) department at ASC was set up in 2009, as a direct

result of our Chairman, Mr. Jassem Al-Zainal’s, intention for ASC to proactively measure, and

consistently improve our customers’ satisfaction levels with the company’s products, solutions,

and services. The objective is simply to ensure a long term relationship with our customers.

The CQA team constantly gathers feedback from Amadeus users on their experience

with the Amadeus products and services. Customer Satisfaction levels are monitored

through surveys conducted at the travel agencies, and these measurements are relayed

to the concerned departments within ASC. The CQA department then ensures that these

departments take the necessary actions, and deploy policies and practices, that will

enhance the customer experience with the products and services that they receive.

ASC – Amadeus Road Show Kuwait

Imtiyaz Khamkar

Vendor Support co-ordinator

Sahar Abdulbari

Customer Support Executive

Krishna Prasad

Customer Service Supervisor

Shakeel Amin

Customer Support Executive

AMADEUS Quiz Airline have returned the GDS PNR with the cancellation of AIR segment HX, what would be the procedure for an agent to action this type of PNR where agent also

required to rebook the same itinerary?

Please reply on quiz@asc-me.net by June 30th 2010Provide your name, contacts & 1A office ID

“The newest technological innovations in the Travel and Tourism Industry, experience our latest Solutions first hand and test them yourself” was the main subject of the Road show, which ended its one-week run at ASC Kuwait from the 18th – 22nd April 2010, drew over 60 leaders of the Kuwait Travel and Tourism industry. “The feeling was good a lot of the key people from partner agencies. There are very good opportunities in the market. The Road show was a good way to show our solutions to the market leaders” proclaimed Mr. Amal Merchant, CSD Manager at ASC. The ASC team demonstrated the arsenal of solutions that ASC-Amadeus had to offer which will advance Travel Agencies’ efficiency and productivity.

See you soon at the next Road Show

Armine Minassian, Nabeel Sab, Ruba Ghanim