Study: Sabre Finds Lowest Fares Globally in Each Region

Sabre Corporation, a leading technology provider to the global travel industry, on Tuesday released a third-party study demonstrating that Sabre’s strategic investments and innovations in its air shopping platform have accelerated the company’s lead in low fare search.

The Low Fare Study, conducted by Dr. Fried & Partner, a respected German marketing and management consulting company, compares the efficacy of Sabre’s air shopping platform to other providers — Amadeus and Travelport — and shows Sabre consistently returns the lowest fares globally against main industry competitors.

According to the results, globally, Sabre finds the lowest fare 12 percent more often than Amadeus and 9 percent more often than Travelport. In addition, Sabre generates substantial savings for customers. “On average, Sabre fares save travel buyers 18,50 euros and 9,70 euros compared to Amadeus and Travelport respectively”, the technology provider said in an announcement.

The study further showed that in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sabre finds the lowest fare 10 percent more often than Amadeus and 6 percent more often than Travelport. “On average in this region, Sabre fares save travel buyers up to 20,25 euros compared to Amadeus and up to 9,70 euros compared to Travelport”, Sabre said.

In Greece, Sabre said it generates substantial savings for customers: when compared to Amadeus, average savings is 197 euros, while average savings over Travelport is 200 euros.

Also, Sabre found the lowest fare 9 percent more often than Amadeus and 1 percent more often than Travelport, on average.

“Air travel today is more complex than ever before as airlines work to differentiate their brands through unbundled ancillary services, branded fares and multichannel marketing strategies”, said Sean Menke, president of Sabre Travel Network.

“Amid this complexity, travelers want to know that – no matter which airline, itinerary and services they choose – they are getting a good value for their money and the experience that is right for them”, he added.

“For travel agents, the ability to find the lowest fare is foundational to improving their service quality and generating savings for the traveler at the same time.”

As Sabre points out, with travelers’ rising expectations for value and personalization, it is important for travel buyers to find the option to best fit their clients’ needs which means finding the lowest fare plus the right itinerary with the right amenities. Sabre said that it “wins there too”, consistently delivering the lowest fares with a large selection of attractive flight options, giving travel buyers the flexibility to meet travelers’ unique preferences.

“Sabre invests millions of dollars each year to make the complexity of air shopping simple and to enable a great shopping experience. Knowing that we continue to lead in this area gives our travel buyers the information and options they need to give travelers the experience they want”, Mr Menke added.

The study, which was conducted in the first quarter of 2016, covered 31 countries and included 100 of the top booked city pairs per country. For each city pair, Dr. Fried & Partner evaluated the GDSs’ ability to find the lowest fare with eight combinations of advance purchase and travel duration.

To see the Low Fare Study, press here.