The Lufthansa Group has developed its “Book-a-Group” tool as an integrated platform for flights with Austrian, Lufthansa and SWISS
The Lufthansa Group airlines Austrian, Lufthansa and SWISS launch today an integrated group booking tool. It is exclusively accessible to tour operators, consolidators and travel agents. With just one online tool, they will be able to request group journeys for ten persons or more with the three network airlines – in any combination – and bookings can then be made with immediate confirmation. And it does not make a difference whether it is groups of private individuals, business travelers or tourist groups.
Following the enquiry, the “Book-a-Group” tool, which is available in 14 different languages, will then deliver an offer and price quote in real time. The commercial conditions for group journeys have once again been improved and have now been standardized in one single contract valid for all the Group’s hub airlines and for all new bookings within the “Book-a-Group” tool. One significant improvement, for example, is the introduction of a booking option for short term bookings. In future, it will be possible to cancel bookings at no charge also within the last 60 days before the actual flight, if the cancellation is done within the 72 hours following the booking. The service will now be provided through just one point of contact instead of having separate contact persons for each airline.
“With the new, integrated ‘Book-a-Group’ tool, we have been able to implement a further step in the harmonization of our products and services across all network airlines”, explains Dr. Stefan Kreuzpaintner, Vice President Sales EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Lufthansa Group Airlines. “The Lufthansa Group hub carriers Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS are represented by one integrated sales team, which can now offer group bookings with an easy tool out of one single source.”
It will likewise be possible to use the “Book-a-Group” tool to make enquiries for bookings involving combinations of flights with further members of Lufthansa Group Airlines (Brussels Airlines and Eurowings), as well as with many other Lufthansa partner airlines. This will allow ticket intermediaries and travel agency staff to offer their customers an even wider network of routes, as well as improved availability. A further benefit – even after the booking has been made, the travel professionals will still have access to all the important data and can deal independently with the administration for the travelling group.
