Passengers want an easy travel experience that uses technology (smartphones to facilitate the journey, together with safe and seamless automated journeys), says Benoit Verbaere, Director of SITA Europe Business Development, an IT and telecoms service provider to the air transport industry.
The pandemic has reshaped the way people want to travel, says Verbaere.
Airlines, railways and technology are taking up this trend. Passenger service system and distribution technology provider WorldTicket, has combined its GDS aggregation product with railway operator Deutsche Bahn’s Rail&Fly intermodal interline and codeshare.
According to airport-technology.com, the codeshare includes seat reservation options, making the travel experience seamless and convenient for passengers connecting between air and rail. Travellers on 50 airlines can seamlessly book rail and air travel on the same itinerary, adding Deutsche Bahn rail tickets to air itineraries.
The 50 global full-service carriers include big names such as Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Ethiopian, Latam, Qatar, Singapore, and Thai.
Late last year, Air France improved its digital experience by allowing travellers to check in for their entire journey on both flights and trains on the Air France app.
Commenting on how the seamless travel trend is boosting rail travel, World Travel Rail and Cruise specialist Penny McAslin says she’s seen a big increase in rail requests throughout Europe, looking at 2023 versus 2021. “Rail travel has definitely become a preferred method of transport, compared with flights. Take London to Paris for example: the duration of the train is roughly 2h15min city centre to city centre, compared with flying where the client has to travel to Heathrow, check in, fly, land in Paris CDG and then travel from CDG to Paris CBD.”
Adds Sue Garret, General Manager, Supply, Pricing and Marketing of Flight Centre Travel Group: “Rail has always been popular for travel around Europe, especially as it affords customers the opportunity of a more scenic trip through Europe. With increased efficiency and superior rail products, travel agents are confident to offer a rail product to customers for travel through Europe.”
Are agents establishing new relationships with rail providers to offer their clients seamless travel options? Garret said: “We have amazing suppliers onboard who support us. Rail is not new to FCTG, however, the way we book rail products and the query volumes has changed over the past few years.
“Rome2Rio (the Australian online multimodal transport journey planner) is a great resource to quickly establish key routes, however, when it comes to confirming any transfers, this is supported by our product support team who have access to various booking portals to ensure a seamless transfer. Any complex travel arrangements would be sent to the rail supplier directly, in order for them to facilitate any complex requests.”
Rachael Penaluna, Business Manager at Sure Maritime Travel in Gqeberha, has seen demand grow among travellers asking for plane-rail and plane-rail-bus travel bookings where there are good networks in Europe and the UK. This is especially in France and Germany, as any trip under two hours’ flying time now has to be done by rail according to new emissions rules within the EU.
Penaluna says seamless technology and infrastructure options include ticketed airline apps, from which all booking aspects can be controlled and real-time updates be received, as well as apps and online ticketing platforms for train, Uber, taxi or bus options at travel destinations. “Most airlines offer apps, the best one I have ever used is the Delta app.
“Baggage tracking in multimodal travel is a biggie” she says, as certain airline apps have it built in. “Delta is spot on with this.”
Penaluna says the Lufthansa Rail&Fly option can be booked and ticketed on the GDS and issued as an e-ticket. This involves the integration of both types of transport in finding the fastest connection and allowing the transfer between plane and train using a single ticket. It allows the agent to book the whole journey at the same time, often for a cheaper price compared with booking separate tickets.
