SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

THOMAS COOK (I) LTD.

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF

BACHELORS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (BBA)
GURU JAMBHESHWAR UNIVERSITY OF
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, HISAR

“AN ANALYSIS OF AIRLINE TICKET

RESERVATION SYSTEM”

Training Supervisor : Submitted By:

Name : Mr Navin Jain Sahil Jain
Designation :Director Enrollment No. 06511242209

SESSION 2006 – 2009

The Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology
HISAR – 125001

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 PREFACE

This report is an overview of the analysis of Domestic Airline Strategies in Ticket

Distribution. The project gives specific emphasis on the Indian domestic airlines,
explaining the factor that pulls the consumer towards choosing the services of airlines.

It is survey done explaining the likes of the passengers while selecting an airline.

As India's booming economy, and the deregulation of the aviation industry, has brought
about a huge increase in the number of domestic airlines in India in recent years.
Passengers can now choose from one government owned full service airline, three
privately owned full service airlines, and five privately owned low cost carriers.

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 ACKNOWLEGEMENT

My sincere gratitude to Mr. Navin Jain for providing me the opportunity to have my
Summer Training in their prestigious organization and guiding me with his immense
knowledge.

I would also like to thank the other members of the distribution and ticketing department
who helped me during the course of my project.

I would also like to express my gratitude for the contribution of a number of people
without their co-operation & support this report wouldn’t have taken the current form. I
deeply appreciate their valuable contributions.

SAHIL JAIN
Enrolment No.: 06511242209

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5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Overview of the industry 2
1.2 Profile of the company 19
1.3 Problems of the company 32
1.4 Competition information 33
1.5 S.W.O.T. Analysis 34
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36
2.1 Significance 37
2.2 Managerial usefulness of the study 37
2.3 Objective of the Study 37
2.4 Scope of the Study 38
2.5 Research Methodology 38
2.6 Limitations of the study 39
3. CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION 40
4. DATA ANALYSIS 60
5. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 70
ANNEXURES
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

1
 INTRODUCTION

1.1 OVERVIEW OF INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE

Travel and Tourism one of the world's largest foreign exchange earner among industries,
provides employment directly to millions of people worldwide and indirectly through
many associated service industries. A very wide industry, it includes Government tourism
departments, Immigration and customs services, travel agencies, airlines, tour operators,
hotels etc and many associated service industries such as airline catering or laundry
services, Guides, Interpreters, Tourism promotion and sales etc. Travel and Tourism
enterprises include major internationals with a workforce of thousands, to the small
private travel agent with a handful of employees.

Work in the travel and tourism industry is essentially concerned with providing services
for people who are away from home, on business or holiday. Travel can be leisure travel
involving package tours, pilgrim travel, adventure travel etc or purely business. Work at
every functional level in the industry involves dealing directly with people. Travel agents
assess the needs of tourists and businessmen and help them make the best possible travel
arrangements from the many travel options available. Also, many major cruise lines,
resorts, and specialty travel groups use travel agents to promote travel packages to the
millions of people who travel every year.

Travel company personnel must be up-to-date on current rules and regulations and
documentation required, in areas like cargo, ticketing and passports, visas etc. so as to
correctly advise their clients, and to take care of the paperwork when necessary. Besides
this, all tourism staff in marketing, counter sales, or guide services, should be
knowledgeable about the places their clients visit, in terms of general background, how
to get there connections by air, rail and road and the facilities available.

In India, Travel and tourism, as an industry, has been somewhat slower to take off than
in many other places. However, with increasing worldwide interest in travel, and with the
Government's encouragement of its activities, it is undergoing massive expansion and

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improvement. This forecasts a bright future for all those who choose to make a career of
travel and tourism. Young people with drive and a capacity for hard work can rise to top
positions very quickly in travel and tourism or even head their own agencies. A job in the
industry gives good returns as well as perks including opportunity to see many locales at
low prices.

OVERVIEW OF DOMESTIC AIRLINES IN INDIA

India's booming economy, and the deregulation of the aviation industry, has brought
about a huge increase in the number of domestic airlines in India in recent years.
Passengers can now choose from one government owned full service airline, three
privately owned full service airlines, and five privately owned low cost carriers.

With new airlines starting domestic flights in India, joining the skies, and increasing
flight routes over the sub-continent, coupled with the trend of travellers opting to fly
under tight schedules, it seems conducive to have a thread containing everything you
need or want to know about domestic flights in India.

To help you make the right decision when flying, here's an overview of what you can
expect from each of India's domestic airlines.

Airlines offering domestic flights in India

Indian Airlines

Indian Airlines is India's government owned, full service domestic airline, based in
Mumbai. The airline was merged with Air India, the government owned international
airline, in 2007 but still retains its name. Its market share has dropped significantly, to
around 14%, in recent years.

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As is to be expected with a state-run airline, Indian Airlines has its share of
inefficiencies. Flights are often delayed, flight attendants and in-flight service leave a
lot to be desired, and the airline has been involved in as many as 12 fatal accidents in its
history. On the positive side, it has well planned routes and flight schedules, flies to
most destinations in India, and is surprisingly reliable when it comes to baggage
handling.

E-ticketing is available for all domestic India flight routes except those to/from Calicut,
Lucknow and Goa Offers day fares and night fares (the latter being cheaper).

Air India offers youth discount of up to 25% off for those under 30 years of age, although
you may have to call their offices if you want youth fares. They e-mail you a payment
slip which needs to be filled in and faxed back plus with your passport id to verify your
age.

Check-in baggage rules for domestic flights in India (per person): First Class - 40 kgs,
Executive Class - 30 kgs, Economy Class 20 kgs.

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Deccan

Deccan, formerly known as Air Deccan, is India’s first low cost airline carrier. It was
founded in August 2003, " with the vision to empower every Indian to fly by providing
the lowest airfares and connectivity to unconnected towns and cities". Deccan is based in
Bangalore, with another hub in Chennai.

Deccan does not differentiate in fares between NRI, tourists, and locals for Indian
domestic flights. Check-in baggage rules for domestic India flights (per person): 15 kg
(Rs 70/kg for excess check-in luggage)

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JetLite (formerly Air Sahara)

JetLite, formerly known as Air Sahara, is one of the older privately-owned airlines in
India. It was founded in September, 1991, is has bases in Indira Gandhi International
Airport in New Delhi, Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, Chatrapati Shivaji International
Airport in Mumbai, Chennai International Airport in Chennai, and Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

JetLite covers domestic flights all over India, as well as travel between Delhi and
Chicago through a code share with American Airlines. Check-in baggage for domestic
flights in India (per person): 20 kg.

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GoAir

GoAir is another low-cost carrier, and is a relative new-comer for Indian domestic
flights, having been established in June 2004. It is based in Mumbai.

GoAir does not differentiate in fares between NRI, tourists, and residents, and flies
between Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore ad Goa. GoAir offers 10,000 Free Tickets
Per Month. Check-in baggage rules for domestic India flights: 15 kg (Rs 70/kg for
excess check-in luggage)

Indigo Air

Indigo Air began its flight operations for domestic Indian flights in August 2006, and
currently links Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Goa,
Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi,
Pune, Udaipur, and Vadodara. This low cost Indian flight carrier’s main hub is in Delhi.

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Indigo Air does not differentiate between NRI, tourist, and local fares for domestic
Indian flight tickets.

Jagson Airline

Jagson Airline, established in November 1991, is India’s first private airline. It is based
primarily in Delhi. Jagson Airlines currently operates Delhi-Kullu and Delhi-Shimla
routes, as well as Shirdi-Mumbai and Shirdi-Pune flights. Jagson airlines has offices in
Mumbai, Shirdi, Manali, Kullu, Shimla, with good connects for the Delhi-Rajasthan
sector

Jagson airlines does offer internet booking facilities for domestic Indian flight tickets
through their online booking site.

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Jet Airways

Jet Airways is based in Mumbai, and offers over 370 daily flights across 44 domestic
destinations. Jet Airways also operates numerous international flights to destinations like
the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Thailand, and Nepal. Jet Airways became
the first Indian carrier to offer internet check-in facilities for its passengers.

Jet Airways offers youth discount (25%) for those under 29 years of age, and Senior
Citizen discounts for those 65 years and older. To get the discount rates for domestic
flights in India, the airline requires you to fax over credit card as well as pass port ID
details.

Check-in baggage rules for domestic India flights (per person): Economy - 25 kg,
Premiere - 35 kg.

Kingfisher Air

Kingfisher Airlines Limited is based in Bangalore, and was established in May 2005. It
operates over 200 domestic Indian flights a day across 37 destinations in India. Its
primary hub is in Bangalore International Airport.

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Although Kingfisher only operates flights in India, the airline has plans to expand into
the international market by adding the Unted States as a possible destination. Check-in
baggage rules for domestic India flights: Kingfisher Class - 20 kg, Kingfigher First - 35
kg.

Paramount Airlines

Paramount Airlines’ primary focus is on the business traveler, and flies between Tamil
Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Some of its Indian domestic flight
destinations include Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi (Cochin), Hyderabad and Madurai.

It is based in Madurai India, with its primary hub located in Chennai International
Airport. The airline started operating in October 2005.

There is no differentiation in fares for domestic flights in India between NRI, tourists,
and residents for Paramount Airlines. The airline also offers a booking facility through
its Online Paramount Booking site.

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SpiceJet

SpiceJet was voted the best low-cost carrier in Central Asia by SkyTrax in 2007. It is
based in New Delhi, with its main hub in Mumbai and an additional hub in Ahmedabad.
SpiceJet also offers service to Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and
Varanasi.

SpiceJet offers online booking services, and has no differentiation in fares between NRI,
tourists, and locals. Check-in baggage rules for domestic flights in India: 20kg.

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12
CURRENT UPDATES OF DOMESTIC AIRLINES IN INDIA

Travel agents threaten to stop selling airline tickets

Major travel agents have threatened to stop selling domestic and international air tickets
until airlines agreed to restore commissions that they had said they would scrap starting
October 1, citing higher costs and slower growth.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Mumbai by the country's three top travel
associations — the Travel Agents Association of India, Travel Association Federation of
India and Indian Association of Tour Operators — representing over 4,500 IATA-
accredited international and domestic agents and more than 85 per cent of the total air
ticketing business.

The associations said they would stop selling tickets if a meeting between the agents and
leading airlines scheduled for July 24 in Delhi did not come out with a solution.

The move could impact air travelers, who may face problems booking or canceling
tickets only through company-owned ticketing counters or through the internet, which is
not a popular option for international travel.

Airlines have been giving agents 5 per cent of their base fare on the tickets as
commission, a recent reduction from the earlier 9 per cent. Last month, domestic airlines
Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India unilaterally sent letters to travel agents saying no
commissions would be given from October 1. Foreign carriers like Lufthansa, Singapore
Airlines and British Airways, among others, did the same. Airlines say they will save
over Rs 1,000 crore from the move.

"This zero-commission is the question of our very existence," said Sunil Bijlani, a travel
agent from Mumbai.

Agents question the premise of doing away with the commission and cite examples of
Australia and Japan, where the commission is still 9 per cent. "Airlines like British

13
Airways and Singapore Airlines are profitable. Why do they not want to pay us?"
questions Hari Devnani, a travel agent.

Airlines in Pakistan recently introduced zero-commission for the agents but reversed the
decision within a week.

MARKET SHARE OF AIRLINES IN INDIA

The total fleet size of commercial airlines in India is 439. In 1994 the Air Corporation
Act of 1953 was repealed with a view to remove monopoly of air corporations on
scheduled services, enable private airlines to operate scheduled service, convert Indian
Airlines and Air India to limited company and enable private participation in the national
carriers. However, beginning 1990 private airline companies were allowed to operate air
taxi services, resulting in the establishment of Jet Airways and Air Sahara. These changes
in the Indian aviation policies resulted in the increase of the share of private airline
operators in domestic passenger carriage to 68.5% in 2005 from 0.4 of 1991.

Market share

Current market share of Indian carriers in the domestic aviation market is shown below:

Jet Airways and Jet Lite 30.4%

Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan 29.0%

Air India and Indian 19.8%

IndiGo 8.4%

SpiceJet 5.3%

Others 5.2%

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Operational airlines

COMMENCED
AIRLINE ICAO IATA CALLSIGN
OPERATIONS

Air India AIC AI AIR INDIA October 1932

Air-India Express AXB IX EXPRESS INDIA April 2005

Air India Regional September 2007

Blue Dart Aviation BDA BZ BLUE DART May 1994

Club One Air August 2005

Deccan DKN DN DECCAN August 2003

Deccan Aviation DKN DN DECCAN December 1997

GoAir GOW G8 GOAIR June 2004

IndiGo Airlines IGO 6E IFLY August 2006

15
 Jagson Airlines November 1991

Jet Airways JAI 9W JET AIRWAYS May 1993

Jet Lite RSH S2 JETLITE April 2007

Kingfisher Airlines KFR IT KINGFISHER May 2005

MDLR Airlines March 2007

Paramount Airways PMW I7 PARAWAY October 2005

SpiceJet SEJ SG SPICEJET May 2005

Defunct airlines

COMMENCED CEASED
AIRLINE ICAO IATA CALLSIGN
OPERATIONS OPERATIONS
Archana Airways ACY* - ARCHANA* 1991 1999
Alliance Air LLR CD ALLIED 1996 September 2007
Crescent Air
2000 2006
Cargo
Damania Airways
East-West Airlines 1992
Gujarat Airways
Himalayan
1948 1953
Aviation
Indus Airways 2006 2007
Kalinga Airlines 1946 1953/1965
ModiLuft MOD* HT* MODILUFT* 1994 1996
NEPC Airlines
Vayudoot

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Fewer people fly in June; airports see dip in traffic

New Delhi, July 11 The large number of aircraft seen grounded at some airports in the
country is but corroborated by the figures of Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) for June.

After recording buoyant growth, the domestic airline industry has reported a decline in
passengers carried during June as compared to the same period last year.

Slowdown

Air India has suffered the maximum loss carrying 1.44 lakh passengers less than in the
same period last year. It collectively carried 35.06 lakh passengers during the month,
almost 1.3 lakh passengers fewer than previously.

The slowdown has been recorded despite Kingfisher, JetLite, SpiceJet, Paramount
Airways and IndiGo increasing passenger numbers in June this year compared to the
previous year.

Last month, low cost IndiGo reported the largest jump in passenger carriage at 4.22 lakh
(2.55 lakh), while SpiceJet carried 3.66 lakh ( 3.03 lakh).

Among others, Kingfisher carried 5.02 lakh passengers in June this year up from 4.70
lakh passengers previously, JetLite flew 2.85 lakh (2.43 lakh), while Paramount
transported 46,000 passengers (44,000).

In June, Jet Airways flew the maximum number of passengers at 7.44 lakh (8.01 lakh).

Frequency Axed

Anticipating a slowdown, the domestic industry has already cut back on over 120 daily
flights and warn that the number could reach 300 soon.

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Jet Airways and its subsidiary, JetLite, announced a temporary reduction in schedules
which will see a 10 per cent reduction in flight frequencies of combined fleet.

The Chief Commercial Officer of the new Hyderabad airport, Mr A. Vishwanath, said the
number of daily landings now stood at 126, down from 135 about 10 days ago, while the
new Bangalore airport has reported a drop of three per cent in air traffic movement which
could rise to 10 per cent.

“There has been a decline of about 19 daily flights into Delhi and 16 daily flights into
Mumbai. Air Deccan has cancelled or suspended 35 daily flights, JetLite 26 and SpiceJet
21,” officials said.

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1.2 PROFILE OF THE ORGANISATION

Company Profile

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. is the largest integrated Travel and Travel related Financial Services
Company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange,
Corporate Travel, Leisure Travel, and Insurance. The Company launched its Indian operations
in 1881 and is celebrating its 127 years of world-class service in India. Thomas Cook (India)
operates in the following areas of business, namely: Leisure Travel, Corporate Travel
Management, MICE, Foreign Exchange, SWIFT Network, Travel Insurance, Credit Cards,
Pre-Paid Cards, Life Insurance and E-Business.

Post March 31st 2008, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) is a part of Thomas Cook Group plc
UK (TCG). On March 7th 2008, TCG announced its decision to acquire TCIL from Dubai
Investment Group. Thomas Cook Group plc is one of the largest travel groups in the world with
a market capitalization of approximately US$6 Billion.

In June 2006, Thomas Cook (India) acquired LKP Forex Limited and Travel Corporation (India)
Pvt. Ltd. (TCI).

TCIL presently operates in over 61 cities across almost 166 locations in the country. The
company has overseas operations in Sri Lanka which is a branch of TCIL and Mauritius which
is a subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India). The Company employs over 2,500 resources and is
listed on both the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as the National Stock Exchange.

Thomas Cook (India), over the years has received several prestigious awards such as the
Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance and the Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA) Golden Award for Best Travel. Recently, the Company won the Best Tour
Operator at the CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2008 and was also accredited the P1 rating which
is the highest financial rating given by Crisil.

History of Thomas Cook

In 1841, young Thomas Cook arranged an 11-mile train journey for a motley group of
passengers from Leicester to Loughborough. And it marked the beginning of a chapter in
history. He went on to introduce a railway tour of Europe. But it wasn't until the early 1860s that
he began the travel firm, Thomas Cook & Son, which included tours of the USA. The Company
also started operations for military transport and postal services for England and Egypt during

19
the 1880s. The world got around and by the early 1900s, the who's who of the era - kings,
politicians, bishops and professors - patronised Thomas Cook's travel itinerary.

As the years passed by, the Company introduced the world to a whole new concept of leisure
and business travel. Driving innovation in the business, it connected continents and presented
the people an economic and state mode of travel across them.

In 1881, Thomas Cook started its India operations, with its first office being set up in Kolkata. As
it expanded its horizons across the subcontinent, the Company came to be known as Thomas
Cook Overseas Ltd. And on 21st October 1978, it was christened Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, only
to make its first public issue in February 1983. In the year 2000, the Group commenced its
operations in Mauritius and also acquired the Sri Lanka business from Thomas Cook Overseas
Ltd, UK.

Awards

Thomas Cook (India), over the years has received several prestigious awards such as the
Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance and the Pacific Asia
Travel Association (PATA) Golden Award for Best Travel. Recently, the Company also
won the Best MICE Operator Award and was also accredited the P1 rating which is the
highest financial rating given by Crisil.

Apart from this Thomas Cook has won the following awards:

• Best Travel Agency Award 2004 given by TTG Asia - Part of Pacific Asia
Travel Association (PATA) for the 5th year in succession.

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• The Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance,
for the second time in a row. The Criteria for this award are
transparency, excellence in conducting business, various
levels of management, social and environmental
responsibility, ethical business practice and Consistent
creation of value for all the stakeholders.

• The National Tourism Award for 2001-2002 & 2002-

2003, winning the second rank in category 1 for the company that achieved the
highest foreign exchange earnings from Ministry of Tourism.

• National Tourism Award - Best MICE Operator 2006-07

• National Tourism Award - 3rd prize Inbound Operator 2006-07

• The Association of Business Communications of India (ABCI) where

the company won the first prize for its website - www.thomascook.co.in

• Awarded "The Best Outbound & Inbound Tour Operator of the Year" award
at the Hospitality India Awards 2006 hosted by Hospitality India.

• Recipient of the prestigious Government of India Ministry of Tourism award for

"Excellence in Conference Tourism"

• Best Travel Agency - India for the year 2008 by TTG Asia - Part of Pacific
Asia Travel Association (PATA)

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 • Best Tour Operator by CNBC Awaaz in 2008

• Best Outbound Tour Operator in the 4th Hospitality India & Explore the world
Annual International Awards - 2008

SERVICES

Holidays - Inbound

Inbound Tourist refers to tourists/ travelers coming to India.

Inbound tour operators promote India as a tourist destination. We organize tours for foreign
tourist visiting India. We organize Individual tours, group tours and Conferences. Various
services offered in inbound business are accommodation, ticketing, roundtrip, excursion, land
arrangements, airport transfer etc. These services are procured from providers of these
services like hotels, airlines, transporters, guides etc. within India. Customers are typically
individuals and are sourced by overseas principals, tour operators or travel agents. TCI, one of
the subsidiaries is among the leaders in inbound tourism and works closely with tour operators
worldwide.

TCI has a widely distributed network of travel agents and tour operators worldwide. It has
around 20 offices in India and a total of 11 offices in USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany,
Spain, China, Korea, Japan and Australia.

We also act as a ground handling agent domestically for Charter flights coming from
international destinations. We also offer customized individual holidays, group escorted
holidays, MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) arrangements and emergency
medical assistance.

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Inbound travelers handled by our Company are primarily from Europe and USA. Our company
enters into business arrangements with the foreign tour operators for servicing their customers
when they arrive in India.

International Holidays

Outbound tourist refers to Indian Nationals traveling out of India.

Our Company offers outbound tour packages across approximately 50 Countries. Outbound
packages include various services like air tickets, visa, travel insurance, airport transfer, hotel
accommodation, sight seeing, etc.

International Holidays is further classified into following categories:

1. Group Escorted Holidays: These are ready made packages where a group of
travelers is escorted by a Tour Manger.

2. Customised Individual Holidays: Tailor made packages based on individual

requirements

3. MICE: Dealers/Employees are sent on tour by Corporates.

4. Sales agency amongst others for Star Cruise, Rail Europe, Globus, Cosmos Tours,
Greyhound, Amtrak, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations, Japan Rail and Costa Cruises

Domestic Holidays

Domestic Travel refers to Indian Nationals (Tourists, Business Travelers, Students, Leisure
travelers) traveling within India. Various services offered are accommodation, ticketing,
roundtrip, excursions, land arrangements, airport transfer, etc. These services are procured
from service providers like hotels, airlines, transporters, guides, etc.

TCI, one of our subsidiaries specializes in special interest and incentive tours, conferences and
air charter / cruise ship ground operations. It operates its own Taj Mahal Tour and Delhi City
Tour and is a General Sales Agent ("GSA") for the Palace on Wheels and the Deccan Odyssey.

We are active members of various industry and professional organizations.

23
Air Tickets

Book your Air Tickets for your travel with us either offline or online through the site
www.thomascook.in. We offer a complete range for flights, right from Low Cost to Full
service Airlines, to choose from. From time to time we have great deals to offer you on
your flights, Please check out the latest deals and book your flight today on
www.thomascook.in

Rail Tickets

Book your Rail Tickets for your travel with us either offline or online through the site
www.thomascook.in. You can choose either Indian Rail Tickets that are available via
IRCTC or International Rail Tickets via Rail Europe. We offer a complete range for Rail
Bookings, International or Domestic. From time to time we have great deals to offer you
on your Rail Bookings, Please check out the latest deals and book your Rail Ticket with
us today on www.thomascook.in.

Corporate Travel

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Corporate Travel forms a dominant share of overall travel business of our Company. We
manage the travel budgets of several large national and multinational companies. Our large
scale of operations enables us to effectively manage travel budgets of several Multi National
Companies, Blue-Chip companies and Multinational banks to their advantage. Our Company
provides Integrated Travel Management / Advisory Services to more than 300 Corporates.

Our Company provides customers a complete basket of products for all their travel needs:

 Air Reservations

 Hotel Reservations

 Land arrangements which includes sight seeing, car rental, transfers etc.

 Passport / Visa Service

 Conference / Incentive tour arrangements

 Foreign Exchange

 Insurance

Our branches specialize in offering tailor-made Travel Policies for each corporate, thereby
bringing savings on spend.

Based on requirements and volumes of business, corporate are serviced either by having a
dedicated relationship team visits client's office regularly or having a dedicated & expert travel
consultant with Centralised Reservation System located at the client's site as an 'implant'.

Meetings, Incentives, Exhibitions & Conferences

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One Stop Shop for all your travel needs i.e. air tickets, accommodation, event management,
forex, visas, travel insurance etc. Hands on approach of senior management, including
travelling along with the group Dedicated team in each hub providing specialised services Most
experienced and cooperative Tour Managers in the industry Operations geared up to handle
large groups. We have successfully handled several groups of over 300 pax in the year 2008 A
specialised quality control department that would ensure smooth delivery of services at every
stage.

Experience: This refers to the experience of the travelers right from the time they board the
airline to the foreign destination till the time they come back. The travel here is a REWARD for
the dealers/employees of the company who have done well over a period of time. The company
(as well as the employees) expects the trip to be an enjoyable, hassle free and fun filled
"experience". We at Thomas Cook understand their concern and provide them this experience
through our:-

• Experienced, dependable and extensively traveled Tour Managers, who are available
with the group 24 X 7, provide their personalized services to the group and at times, act as crisis
managers. In contrast, the other tour companies often send their ticketing person as the "tour
manager".

• The requests for special Dietary requirements are taken care of completely. The Indians
are very particular about the food they eat (e.g.) Jain food. We make sure that our clients get the
same, irrespective of the location they are traveling to.

• The sightseeings that we offer are often exotic and different from the rest of the tour
operators.

Customer Focus/Customer Centric/Exceptional Service: This primarily refers to the

experience of the corporate with our sales representatives. There is a huge extent of
customization in case of a MICE trip in terms of destinations, hotel requirements, conference
needs, sightseeings to be covered, gala dinner venue, team building activities etc. Our prime
focus is always to cater to our customers’ specific needs and the intent is to delight the
customer by always delivering more than promised by us/expected by them.

Dependable: This comes out of the reputation of the company (TCIL) and the vast experience
of handling a large number of MICE movements in the past. The fact that we have got trusted
business partners (suppliers) for every destination and that there is always an experienced tour
manager with the group ensures that the clients feel secure when they travel with us. Moreover,

26
the reputation of the company ensures that there will be no let up in the service quality and
there won’t be any trivial financial issues.

Reservoir of Knowledge: The experienced employees of the MICE business make sure that
they function as a "travel consultant" to the client rather than being a "travel agent" to them. We
believe that with our expertise, we are in a position to provide multiple options to our customers.
This is especially true in case of clients who have a budget constraint. Once the client is
provided with multiple options along with the pros and cons for the same, they are in a much
better position to take a decision regarding the destination as well as the services that they
expect us to provide them.

Value for Money/Cost Effective: We are committed to provide quality service to our clients
and we do not believe in any compromise on the same (0% Compromise). We make sure that
the experience that our clients get is of a greater value than the cost that they pay for it. If our
cost is more than the competition, then there is ALWAYS a very strong reason for the same
(which could be better quality of hotels, better airlines, EXTRA inclusions etc.). Our endeavour
is to have our customers delighted by our services so that at all times, they feel that they have
got something EXTRA than the worth of the currency that has been spent on it.

Product Innovation: Over the last decade or so, the MICE industry has been booming. Since
then, some of the companies have been traveling each year (with multiple
incentives/conference tours). They are always looking out for new destinations for the incentive
trips. Our endeavour is to be ahead of the competition at all times and product innovation is one
way of doing that. We have promoted new destinations at different points of times which have
traditionally never been thought of for a MICE trip. E.g. Jordan, Japan, Macau, Canada.
Moreover, within the same destinations, we have managed to change the product mix by
changing the venues for Gala Dinner (at cruise, Desert Safari etc.) or including some exotic
sightseeings or providing some out of the box team building activities or in any other way.

Wide Reach: We are confident of providing our customers with the best of the services at any
destination that they wish to visit. This is due to the vast resources of the company and due to
the number of trusted business partners that we have all over the world.

One Stop Shop for MICE needs/Integrated travel services: It’s our firm belief that once the
customer enters one of our offices, all his travel needs will be catered to. We provide the
customer with the forex services, insurance cover and a travel card. Moreover, we can service
their visa requirements better than any other tour operator because of our goodwill and the

27
relationships that we have with the various embassies/consulates. We have the ability to
provide the customer with a 360 degree experience on a consistent basis.

Work with Play: This is particularly true in case of the corporates who have an offsite for a
conference/meeting. We ensure that after a hard day’s work, they have a relaxed and fun filled
evening. This can be done by sending them on a night cruise or by treating them to a Gala
Dinner with free flow of liquor and a Live DJ. In one of the cases, we had sent a couple of VJs
and RJs (RJ Taraana) from India who made sure that everyone from the group was involved in
the fun activities.

Foreign Exchange

Thomas Cook has been granted an authorized dealers' license (category II) by RBI to deal in
foreign exchange through its designated branches. Under this license, we have been, inter-alia,
granted permission to undertake the following activities:

1. Retail purchases of foreign currencies and travelers cheques.

2. Bulk purchases/sales of foreign currencies from/to authorized dealers, money

changers and franchisees.

3. Release / remittance of foreign exchange for the following activities:

a. Private Visits

b. Remittance by tour operators/travel agents to overseas agents/ principals/

hotels

c. Business Travel (including for Central and State Government officials)

d. Fee for participation in global conferences and specialized training

e. Payment of crew wages

f. Film Shooting

g. Medical Treatment abroad

28
 h. Overseas Education

i. Remittance under educational tie up arrangements with universities abroad

j. Maintenance of close relatives abroad

k. Stall rentals and participation fees in connection with participation in

overseas exhibitions / fairs

4. Import and export of foreign currency and export of encashed Traveler's Cheques

5. Maintenance of foreign currency accounts with banks abroad and undertaking

forex cover operations in India and abroad.

The activities permitted by RBI are carried out only at the specific locations permitted by RBI. As
an Authorized Dealer, we are a member of the Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India.

Our Company provides the foreign exchange and payment solutions for:

• Individual travelers

 Foreign exchange for leisure outbound travelers

 Foreign Exchange for migration, employment, medical treatment

 Remittances for students studying abroad, gift remittances etc

 Encashment services & inward remittances for inbound tourists visiting

India, Non Resident / Resident Indians.

• Corporates

 Travel money and remittances for business travelers.

 On site support for inbound tour conferences.

29
  Film production houses traveling for shoots abroad.

 Remittances of tour proceeds for tour operators.

• Institutions

 Bulk purchases and sales of foreign currencies from Banks, Non Bank
Retailers and Money Changers.

Our business model revolves around leveraging its position as an Authorized Dealer with
systems, ability and experience of handling large volumes of forex transactions for both
wholesale and retail customers in a highly cost-efficient manner.

Foreign Exchange - Products and Services

As an Authorised Dealer, our services includes wholesale and retail purchase and sale of
currency notes, Purchase and Sale of Traveler Cheques ("TC"), pre paid international cards,
inbound and outbound remittances and Money Transfers ("MT"). Some of our products and
services are:

• Purchase and Sale of currency notes in 26 destination currencies

• Purchase and Sale of foreign currency denominated travelers cheques

• Thomas Cook Global Money Card and Citibank World Money Card as prepaid
cards, which is a convenient way to carry money overseas

• Foreign Currency Drafts

• Wire transfer of Funds

• Remittance of money into India through MoneyGram

• Cash Advances against International Credit Card

Network

30
Our strong network enables us to attract large wholesale clients such as public and private
sector banks, FFMC's and RMC's to use our services. We have a strong network of
approximately 160 offices in 55 cities and 100 RMCs & Hotel Franchisee.

Our Company has foreign exchange counters at the international airports of Mumbai, New
Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin and Trivandrum which are open 24 hours and 365 days a year
to cater to the needs of the international travelers. Our Company also has a round-the clock
Foreign Exchange counter at the New Delhi Railway Station.

Thomas Cook Credit Card

Our Company offers Thomas Cook credit card in association with ICICI Bank Limited.
Our Company and ICICI Bank are marketing and issuing a co-branded credit card to the
customers for using the same at various Master Card retail merchant establishments for
availing benefits attached to the said card. The card has been devised as part of loyalty
program for the products of the company with benefits attached to spend through the card
at Thomas Cook outlets.

31
Salient Features:

Thomas Cook Titanium MasterCard features in brief:

• The card has been specially designed for frequent travelers.

• Attractive 6 reward points for each spend of Rs.100 on the card on Thomas Cook
products
- Free Delivery of Foreign Exchange within city limits

• Rs. 5,000 discount on any Thomas Cook GIT product

• 1 Free Air ticket to a domestic destination on the issuance of new card

• Complimentary travel inconvenience insurance policy

• Access to MasterCard travel lounges at Airports across the world

• Redemption of reward points for Thomas Cook holiday packages, hotel stays, air
tickets, airline upgrades, etc

• Conversion of Thomas Cook reward points to frequent flyer miles - convert the
reward points earned on card to frequent flyer miles on select domestic airlines.

• Positioned as a comprehensive travel card

• Assured gifts for the joining fees - free air ticket / discount voucher

• Higher reward points for card swipes at Our Company's outlets

• Redemption of reward points against Thomas Cook products encouraged

32
Travel Insurance

Insurance business of being carried out through our 100% subsidiary - Thomas Cook Insurance
Services (I) Ltd. ("TCISL"). TCISL is a corporate agent of Tata AIG General Insurance Company
Limited. TCISL entered insurance distribution in 2001 and offers the following products and
services:

1. "TravelCare" (Overseas Travel Insurance) - Travel Care offers security for

travelers which covers travel insurance, hospitalization, loss of documents,
Repatriation of Remains, emergency Cash Advance or any other crises which
requires assistance.

2. "FamilyCare" - An Overseas travel Insurance cover for entire family of 4-5

persons with single overall sum insured.

3. "ScholarCare" (Overseas Student Insurance) - A customized product for all

students studying abroad which ensures timely assistance in case of unexpected
surprises in a foreign land.

4. CorporateCare (Overseas Corporate Travel Insurance) - For Companies

where employees travel abroad frequently on work, we have customized group
policies. All foreign trips undertaken by employees in a year are covered under a
single policy.

TCISL provides all insurance products at all our outlets, leveraging on ability to cross sell
insurance products to our Travel and Forex customers.

Logos

Thomas Cook logo (4 colour, CMYK)

Intended for use in full colour print applications, you can download this logo
here

33
 Thomas Cook logo (single colour)
For use in one colour print applications, you can download the single colour
logo here

Thomas Cook logo (black and white)

For use in black and white print applications, you can download this logo
here

1.3 PROBLEMS OF THE ORGANISATION

. Low capital investment by the partners

. Costly as compared to services provided

. No discount provided

. No branches in different states

34
1.4 COMPETETION INFORMATION

Name Location Specialists

J S World Travels Jay Janak Puri Air Ticketing Agents For

Ess World Travel Domestic, Railway Ticketing
Agents, Air Ticketing Agents
For International

Sai G Travel N Forex Pvt Hauz Khas Air Ticketing Agents For
Ltd Domestic, Money Exchanger,
Tour Operator

Seven Seas Tours & Connaught Place Air Ticketing Agents For
Travels Domestic, Air Ticketing Home
Delivery, Air Ticketing IATA

A 2 Z Travel Planners Noida Air Ticketing Agents For

Domestic, Air Ticketing
Agents For International, Tour
Operator

Nimbuss Incredible India Pusa Road Air Ticketing Agents For

Domestic, Car Hire, Railway
Ticketing Agents

35
1.5 S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

Strengths

1) Number of offices from which information can be gathered.

2) No hidden costs

3) Number of different tours available like world tours, honeymoon tours, India tours,
NRI tours.

4) High quality food prepared in deluxe kitchen vans.

5) Luxurious hotels provided.

6) Coaches available with each group.

7) Huge awareness among customers through newspapers, magazines.

WEAKNESSES

1) Focuses more on international tours rather than Indian tours.

2) Costly as compared to services provided.

3) No refund for unutilized service.

4) All flights,hotels,restraunts subject to change without prior notice.

5) Lesser emphasis on cunstomer satisfaction.

6) Low investment.

36
OPPORTUNITIES

1) Can provide large number of services with different package.

2) Increasing number of franchisees will increase the clientele base.

3) With high financial viability company is expected to grow more in near future.

4) It can easily tap the retail investors with its savings through promotional channels like
newspapers,magazines etc.

5) Can also provide its customers different schemes like EMI Scheme as it has good
banking relations.

THREATS

1) With a rise in number of competitors Thomas Cook may loose new clients.

2) Expensive packages may move a customer to other companies.

3) Risk of technological obsolescence.

4) Due to low customer satisfaction customer may not again trust Thomas Cook.

37
 CHAPTER-2

OBJECTIVES AND
METHEDOLOGY

38
 OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

A brief introduction of Domestic Airlines and their strategies is studied in this project. It
helps in finding the market share, customer preference, likes and feedback about the
airlines and customer service.

2.2 MANAGERIAL USEFULNESS OF THE STUDY

• Market survey will help to know the prevailing market condition and also help in
framing the policies accordingly.

• The study will help the management to understand the customer mindset and also
estimating the present and future market demand for the products.

• It will help to estimate the level of awareness established in the market and in
deciding the extent of promotion required.

• It will help in finding out the customers expectations about the product and also
help to know the customer physiology.

2.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

• Study of Domestic Airline Strategies in Ticket Distribution

• Comparison of various Airlines in India.

• Analysis of Thomas Cook with competitors.

• Customer Preferences

• Customer Service

39
 • Various Airlines Reservation Systems

• Computer Reservation Systems

• Ticket Reservation Systems

• Various Process of the Airlines Ticketing

• Finding the recommendation

2.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The survey was conducted on the ticket reservation system of Thomas Cook (I)
Ltd. The main objective behind the survey was to find out the various process of
the airlines ticketing and ticket reservation system. The survey also aimed at
finding the factors which are attracting the people for online reservation system.

2.5 METHODOLOGY

DATA SOURCE

Primary data

A questionnaire is prepared and analyzed to compare different airlines, and able to learn
more about the position in the market. Information is especially collected by means of a
research program carried out for a specific purpose.

Data has been collected from questionnaire method

SAMPLE SIZE 100

SAMPLE AREA DELHI

40
SAMPLE DURATION 3 MONTHS

Secondary Data

Reanalysis of the secondary data, by using appropriate procedures to verify accuracy. It

is collected from internet, magazines, newspaper.

2.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

. Questionnaire lacks flexibility in wordings and sequencing of the questions

. There is no scope of rewording, rephrasing the questions

. Only 100 people were included in the sample

. Sampling was done only in Delhi

. Questionnaires were not completely filled

. People were biased

. Time constraint

. Wrong interpretation / observation

. Misleading on part of researchers

. Lack of appropriate training to researchers

. Lack of theoretical base

. Information is limited

. Lower classes cannot be surveyed

41
 CHAPTER -3

CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION

42
AIRLINE RESERVATION SYSTEM

The Airline Reservations System (ARS) was one of the earliest changes to improve
efficiency. ARS eventually evolved into the Computer Reservations System (CRS), and
then into Global Distribution System (GDS).

The history of airline reservations systems began in the late 1950s when American
Airlines required a system that would allow real-time access to flight details in all of its
offices, and the integration and automation of its booking and ticketing processes. As a
result, Sabre (Semi-Automated Business Research Environment) was developed and
launched in 1964. Sabre's breakthrough was its ability to keep inventory correct in real
time, accessible to agents around the world. Prior to this, manual systems required
centralized reservation centers, groups of people in a room with the physical cards that
represented inventory, in this case, seats on airplanes.

The deregulation of the airline industry, in the Airline Deregulation Act, meant that
airlines, which had previously operated under government-set fares ensuring airlines at
least broke even, now needed to improve efficiency to compete in a free market.

43
 Commercial air travel

Airlines List of all airlines • List of passenger airlines

Industry associations IATA • ICAO • ISTAT

Airline Reservations System • Airline ticket • Airline timetable •

Boarding pass • Codeshare agreement • Continent pass • Electronic
Ticketing ticket • Frequent flyer program • Government contract flight •
Open-jaw ticket • Red-eye flight • Round-the-world ticket •
Standby • Travel search engine

Airline hub • Airport • Airport lounge • Domestic airport •

Airport
International airport • Regional airport

Bag tag • Baggage allowance • Baggage carousel • Baggage claim

Luggage
• Baggage handler • Checked baggage • Lost luggage

Check-in Airstair • Airport Check-in • Airport security • Boarding • Gate

Airline seat • First class • Business class • Premium Economy class

Seating
• Economy class • Travel class

Aircraft lavatory • Airline meal • Airsickness bag • In-flight

In flight
entertainment

Crew Deadheading • Flight attendant • Pilot

Immigration Arrival Card • Departure Card

Air traffic control • Aircraft safety card • Airline security • Airport

Safety
authority • Airport police • Civil Aviation Authority • Flight data
recorder • In-flight safety demonstration • Overwing exits
AIRLINE TICKET

An airline ticket generally was a document created by an airline or a travel agent to

confirm that an individual has purchased a seat on an airplane. This document is then

44
used to obtain a boarding pass at the airport. Then with the boarding pass and the
attached ticket, the passenger is allowed to board the aircraft

An airline ticket generally was a document created by an airline or a travel agent to

confirm that an individual has purchased a seat on an airplane. This document is then
used to obtain a boarding pass at the airport. Then with the boarding pass and the
attached ticket, the passenger is allowed to board the aircraft

It is now common for a traveler to pay a surcharge for a paper ticket. Many airlines no
longer issue paper tickets. IATA has announced that as of June 1, 2008, airlines will no
longer issue any paper tickets.

A paper ticket is generally only good on the airline for which it was purchased. However,
an airline can endorse the ticket so that it may be accepted by other airlines, sometimes
on standby basis or with a confirmed seat.

Usually the paper ticket is for a specific flight. It is also possible to purchase an 'open'
ticket which allows travel on any flight between the destinations listed on the ticket. The
cost for doing this is greater than a ticket for a specific flight.

Some tickets are refundable. However the lower cost tickets are usually not refundable
and may carry many additional restrictions.

A ticket is made up of one or more flight coupons. These flight coupons are the actual
tickets that are used for travel. One flight coupon is used for each leg of the flight.

The carrier is represented by a standardized 2-letter code. In the example above Thai
Airways is TG. The departure and destination cities are represented by International Air
Transport Association airport codes. In the example above, Munich is MUC and Bangkok
is BKK. The International Air Transport Association is the standard setting organization.

Only one person can use a ticket. If multiple people are traveling together, the tickets are
linked together by the same record locator or reservation number which are assigned if

45
the tickets were purchased at the same time. If not, most airlines can connect the tickets
together in their reservation system. This allows all members in a party to be processed in
a group allowing seat assignments to be together (if available at the time of the
assignment).

Black market

When paper tickets were still frequently used, a practice existed by travellers to get rid of
their tickets (which are person-specific) when they decided to alter the course of their
trips. This practice consisted of selling the ticket to other travellers (often at discount
prices), after which the seller accompanied the buyer at the time of departure to the
airport. Here, the original owner checked in under his name, and provided the airport
with the buyer's baggage. After this, the buyer boarded the airplane at the moment of
departure. However, since most airlines check identification on boarding, this procedure
was rarely functional.

Cheap tickets

Besides simply obtaining airline tickets from travel agencies, online, or at the airport at
regular prices, two special types of cheap tickets exist. These include Standby tickets and
Discount tickets.

Standby tickets are obtained at the airport itself, only hours before departure. They
represent places freed up by people who cancelled their flight shortly before departure (so
the airline has free places available, yet can no longer sell it at at regular price because of
the shortage of time).

Discount tickets are tickets that are only available at travel agencies; they are usually
targeted at students. Discount tickets may be 50-70% cheaper than other similar regular
tickets (not low-cost).

An electronic ticket or e-ticket is used to represent the purchase of a seat on a passenger

airline, usually through a website or by telephone. This form of airline ticket rapidly

46
replaced the old paper tickets (from close to zero to 100% in about 10 years) and became
mandatory for IATA members as of June 1, 2008. During the last years, where paper
tickets were still available, airlines frequently charged extra for issuing them. E-tickets
are also available for certain entertainment venues.

Once a reservation is made, an e-ticket exists only as a digital record in the airline
computers. Customers usually print out a copy of their receipt which contains the record
locator or reservation number and the e-ticket number.

47
 COMPUTER RESERVATION SYSTEM

A computer reservations system (CRS) is a computerized system used to store and

retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel. Originally designed
and operated by airlines, CRSes were later extended for the use of travel agents; major
CRS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as global
distribution systems (GDS). Airlines have divested most of their direct holdings to
dedicated GDS companies, who make their systems accessible to consumers through
Internet gateways. Modern GDSes typically allow users to book hotel rooms and rental
cars as well as airline tickets.

History

In the early days of American commercial aviation, passengers were relatively few, and
each airline's routes and fares were tightly regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board.
These were published in a volume entitled The Official Airline Guide, from which travel
agents or consumers could construct an itinerary, then call or telex airline staff, who
would mark the reservation on a card and file it. As demand for air travel increased and
schedules grew more complex, this process became impractical.

In 1946, American Airlines installed the first automated booking system, the
experimental electromechanical Reservisor. A newer machine with temporary storage
based on a magnetic drum, the Magnetronic Reservisor, soon followed. This system
proved successful, and was soon being used by several airlines, as well as Sheraton
Hotels and Goodyear for inventory control. It was seriously hampered by the need for
local human operators to do the actual lookups; ticketing agents would have to call a
booking office, whose operators would direct a small team operating the Reservisor and
then read the results over the telephone. There was no way for agents to directly query
the system.

In 1953, Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) started investigating a computer-based system

with remote terminals, testing one design on the University of Toronto's Manchester

48
Mark I machine that summer. Though successful, the researchers found that input and
output was a major problem. Ferranti Canada became involved in the project and
suggested a new system using punch cards and a transistorized computer in place of the
unreliable tube-based Mark I. The resulting system, ReserVec, started operation in 1962,
and took over all booking operations in January 1963. Terminals were placed in all of
TCA's ticketing offices, allowing all queries and bookings to complete in about one
second with no remote operators needed.

In 1953, American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith chanced to sit next to R. Blair Smith, a
senior IBM sales representative. Their idea of an automated Airline Reservation System
(ARS) resulted in a 1959 venture known as the Semi-Automatic Business Research
Environment (SABRE), launched the following year. By the time the network was
completed in December 1964, it was the largest civil data processing system in the world.

Other airlines soon established their own systems. Delta Air Lines launched the Delta
Automated Travel Account System (DATAS) in 1968. United Airlines and Trans World
Airlines followed in 1971 with the Apollo Reservation System and Programmed Airline
Reservation System (PARS), respectively. Soon, travel agents began pushing for a
system that could automate their side of the process by accessing the various ARSes
directly to make reservations. Fearful this would place too much power in the hands of
agents, American Airlines executive Robert Crandall proposed creating an industry-wide
Computer Reservation System to be a central clearinghouse for U.S. travel; other airlines
demurred, citing fear of antitrust prosecution.

In 1976, United began offering its Apollo system to travel agents; while it would allow
the agents to book tickets on United's competitors, the marketing value of the convenient
terminal proved indispensable. SABRE, PARS, and DATAS were soon released to travel
agents as well. Following airline deregulation in 1978, an efficient CRS proved
particularly important; by some counts, Texas Air executive Frank Lorenzo purchased
money-losing Eastern Air Lines specifically to gain control of its SystemOne CRS.

49
European airlines also began to invest in the field in the 1980s, propelled by growth in
demand for travel as well as technological advances which allowed GDSes to offer ever-
increasing services and searching power. In 1987, a consortium led by Air France and
West Germany's Lufthansa developed Amadeus, modeled on SystemOne. In 1990, Delta,
Northwest Airlines, and Trans World Airlines formed Worldspan, and in 1993, another
consortium (including British Airways, KLM, and United Airlines, among others) formed
the competing company Galileo International based on Apollo. Numerous smaller
companies have also formed, aimed at niche markets the four largest networks do not
cater to.

Recent developments

The system architectures of the four major GDSes are largely based on a mainframe
Transaction Processing Facility framework, which, while reliable and capable of large
workloads, has relatively little processing power and can be expensive to maintain and
upgrade. Recently, the companies have begun selectively migrating processes from their
older mainframes to service-oriented architectures. By using high-performance, lower-
cost platforms, they improve their capacity to handle a fast-rising "look-to-book" ratio;
that is, the total number of shopping transactions compared to actual purchases. The ratio
has increased over time as Internet bots search GDSes more frequently and consumers
compare offers more often before buying.

The declining cost of modern server hardware and the relatively recent introduction of
automated pricing, shopping, and booking software has allowed many airlines to shift
significant buying volume to their own websites, thereby avoiding GDS distribution fees
of $4 or more per flight segment. (The average flight consists of 2.5 segments.) It remains
uncommon for a travel agency to operate without the use of at least one of the four major
GDSs. Meanwhile, the GDS companies have developed their own Web interfaces, and
now sell their services directly to consumers through sites such as Expedia (formerly
owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, but now spun off into a separate company called
"Expedia Inc."), Travelocity (owned by SABRE), and Orbitz (formerly owned by
Cendant, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blackstone called Travelport).

50
Further competition exists in the form of newcomers to the business such as ITA
Software.

United States Department of Transportation regulations governing CRSes were

eliminated by July 31, 2004, but CRSes remain subject to government regulations in
Canada and the European Union. Since all of the major GDS companies operate globally,
the most restrictive requirements—currently those of the European Union—effectively
govern all their operations. The companies have been lobbying Canada and the European
Union for total deregulation of the industry.

Today, each system allows an operator to locate and reserve inventory (for instance, an
airline seat on a particular route at a particular time), find and process fares/prices
applicable to the inventory (Revenue management, Variable pricing and Geo
(marketing)), generate tickets and travel documents, and generate reports on the
transactions for accounting or marketing purposes.

Major systems

US
Name Created by Also used by Market
share*

Amadeus • Air France • Online travel agencies 9.2%

• Iberia including
• Lufthansa o ebookers
• SAS o Expedia
o Opodo
o Flights
o Anyfares
• Over 500 individual
airlines
• Over 120 individual airline
websites
• Over 90,000 travel agencies

51
 • Over 76,000 hotels

SABRE • American • Expedia 44.7%

Airlines • Travelocity
• All Nippon • Anyfares
Airways
• Kayak
• Cathay
Pacific • Over 20 individual airlines
Airways
• China
Airlines
• Singapore
Airlines

Galileo • Aer Lingus • CheapTickets 19.7%

• Air Canada • ebookers
• Alitalia • Ixeo
• Swissair
• TAP
• United
Airlines

Worldspan • Delta • Orbitz 26.5%

• Northwest • Hotwire
• Priceline

Patheo • KLM • Online Travel agencies

• Finnair including
• Lufthansa o Airgorilla
• VA o Flights
o Kayak
o Anyfares
o American Express

Abacus • Cathay
Pacific
Airways

52
 TICKETING PROCESS OUTSOURCING

An Introduction

53
It presents an approach towards outsourcing in the areas of back office processing of
Ticketing Helpdesk and Fulfillment Services for the flight and/or holiday businesses of
Travel Agencies.

Travel Agencies today can avail of outsourcing options that provide enhanced efficiency,
better quality of service and superior value.

The document provides information on why outsourcing of ticketing operations is

becoming a practical, viable and efficient option for Travel Agencies to cut down on
operating costs. The document also details some typical processes that can be evaluated
by mid-to-large sized Travel Agencies for outsourcing. Finally, it lists the essential steps
towards structuring a commercial engagement for outsourcing.

The Case for Outsourcing Ticketing processes

For Travel Agencies, ticketing is a function that entails high process time, while being
low as a value generating function. It is a function that adds to the agency‘s costs in terms
of the time spent on query handling and ticket distribution, while the agency does not
create additional value by handling this process on its own. Nor is there a significant
Knowledge protection issue that necessitates this process being handled directly by the
agency.

Reducing Costs:

On the contrary, agencies can drastically reduce distribution costs and improve the
customer travel experience, by outsourcing the ticketing function. Outsourcing enables
the agency to redirect staff to handling the real-time needs of it's customers, whether
those customers are calling from office, home or from an airport. Call center staff are
thus freed up to deal with customer enquiries, rather than processing tickets. This enables
the Travel agency to streamline its business processes and cut overheads through
outsourcing, and thus drive customer service and concentrate on core areas of its
business.

54
Relevant Experience:

The ticketing processes outlined in this paper are predominantly fares related. Fares is an
area where an Outsourcing partner with the relevant experience can bring superior value
in terms of its fares expertise and trained and qualified fares experts. An outsourcing
partner with fares experts having experience in fare loading, quality check of fares and
rules, rules coding for both published as well as private fares, as well as working
experience on GDS-based fares systems œ can provide the right resource base to take on
a outsourced Ticketing operation.

Such a partner can not only manage the processes efficiently, but also improve
productivity levels once processes are stabilized after migration. Added to this, the cost
advantages by virtue of off- shore location and a flexible pricing model, make
outsourcing an ideal option for most mid-to-large Travel Agencies. Listed below some
key differentiating factors that a Travel Agency should look for, while outsourcing its

Ticketing operation:

Travel domain knowledge, with in-depth knowledge of airline & tour operator processes

Domain expertise in fares and ticketing

Trained and experienced travel industry professionals especially fares & ticketing experts

State-of-the-art BPO delivery centre well equipped with systems, links and security
measures as required for any world-class operations

55
Ticketing Process Outsourcing the Benefits

An outsourcing partner with the right expertise with fares and ticketing, coupled with
strong process frameworks, can ensure that a client looking to outsource its ticketing
functions stands to benefit in the following ways:

• Outsourced services with defined Service Level Agreements œ and often exceeding
them.

• Client Agency‘s core business requirements met without undue risk.

• Painless Transition of the service delivery from the current provider using a realistic,
phased, low-risk approach.

• Guaranteed bi-directional delivery through SLA driven tie-ups with globally reputed
courier companies.

• Services delivered with price-predictability and scalability.

• Break-even point for migration of services achieved within an agreed, specific time-
frame.

• Innovation in reducing cost of services and improving operational efficiencies.

• Allowance for market load and price flexibility without compromising quality.

• Practical, working mechanisms for management, communication, escalation, risk

mitigation and service improvement

Outsourced Ticketing Operations Processes

• Outsourcing of the Ticketing function to an Outsourcing Partner (referred to hereon

as ”Partner‘) can cover the following Operations Processes:

56
• Help Desk Support Process - for Inter-branch Ticketing (IBT)

• This process entails handling inbound calls only from Client Agency shops. Agents
from the Client Agency shops would call up for queries related to Published fares
(e.g. unable to obtain a fare quote of the itinerary or inability to attain the right
fare etc).

• To address these, the Partner accesses the Fares database to resolve agent issues:

• The query shall mostly be resolved and thereafter updated in 1P.

• If unresolved, the query shall be escalated to Client Agency through email/ phone and
the caller shall be informed for the possible time of resolution.

• Sat as per the Local Country Time of the Client Agency.

Ensuring Quality for the Help Desk Process

Call monitoring takes place of calls handled by different agents by the supervisor of the
team according to an assessment sheet with clear parameters .The supervisor shares the
strengths & weaknesses of the agent coach and puts back the agent on refresher trainings
if required.

MIS of calls handled is tracked by the supervisor to check the average handling time of
each agent. To ensure if a particular agent AHT is much higher than the prescribed time,
the supervisor ascertains the reasons and addresses it.

Queue Management & Resolution Process

This process entails processing rejected PNR‘s to enable printing of tickets through
Robots. The unresolved ticketing requests (PNRs) rejected from the ROBOT system land
on specific 1P queues, which are attended (manually intervened) to sort the discrepancy.

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 • The PNR‘s are assessed in order of their priority and allocated to associates.
Agent have access to 1P, Fares database and intranet to investigate/ resolve the
reason for reject.

• The discrepancy is then rectified and the PNR forwarded for Ticketing through
ROBOT ticketing system.

• In case the discrepancy is out of scope the PNR is addressed to the originating
agent for further clarification or escalated to product/ ticketing team.

The Queues Processing & Dispatch process can be operational on a 24 x 7 pattern.

Ensuring Quality for the Queue Management Process

• Quality is ensured for this process through remote monitoring i.e. viewing the
monitor of the agent from a remote location without his knowledge. A supervisor
does the monitoring to ensure the accuracy of action and quantity of messages
transacted and the quantum of calls escalated. This exercise is carried out
randomly for all agents.

Dispatch Process for tickets & other documents to the Client Agency

The process entails processing two separate types of documents:

a) Scheduled air ticket/ e-ticketing quality check & dispatch - issued for a
journey at least 21 days ahead.

This process covers:

• Inter-branch ticketing and flight-savers (Client Agency shop published)

• Flight direct œ receipt letters (Client Agency shop nets)

• Flight direct œ ticket dispatch (Sales center bookings nets / pubs)

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 • Flight direct œ invoice dispatch (Sales center bookings nets / pubs)

• E-ticket itinerary dispatch

In this process, the Partner‘s operation would receive scheduled airline tickets / E-tickets
(access from TIS) / invoices from the Client Agency‘s location for journeys commencing
over 20 days ahead from the date of dispatch. There can be a combination of receipt
letters received either through courier or printed by the Partner‘s local printers

• The documents namely, airline tickets, E-tickets, invoices and receipts are
counted, sorted and recorded in a particular order and segregated according to
specifications.

• The documents go through a Quality Check to verify the details are correct and

• In accordance with the information available in the system. If found in order, the
system is accordingly updated.

• In case the ticket does not pass the Quality Check, it is accordingly rectified or
escalated. The escalated documents are packed separately.

• The supporting documents / labels required are printed from the system. The
invoices are then scanned and stored.

• The documents passing the set specifications are collated with other support
documents and put in envelopes and packed for dispatch after appropriately
labeling them to the Client Agency‘s shops or customers.

• All transactions are counted, recorded and sealed for dispatch to the Client
Agency

This process shall be operational on a 24 x 7 pattern.

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b) Package holiday/ charter flight ticket/ invoice/ errata/ receipts dispatch
(Travel Cat) issued for a journey at least 15 days ahead.

This process covers:

• Tour operator tickets

• Tour operator errata

• Receipt letters

• Tour operator invoices

The transaction can include receiving documents / carrying out primary & secondary
verification and quality checks followed by dispatching the documents to the Client
Agency. The Objective of the process, thus, is not only to deliver well within prescribed
SLA‘s but also offer value to the Client Agency to widen the scope of work. The
Outsorucing Partner can receive chartered airline tickets / errata‘s/ invoices from the
Client Agency for journeys commencing over 15 days ahead from the date of dispatch.

• Receipts and insurance letters from the Client Agency get printed by the Partner‘s
local printer.

• The documents are counted, sorted and recorded in a particular order and
segregated according to specifications.

• The documents shall go through a Quality Check to verify the details are correct
and in accordance with the information available in the system. (Travel CAT). If
found in order, the system is updated.

• Supporting documents are printed from Travel Cat & invoices are scanned. In
case the ticket does not pass the quality check it is accordingly rectified or
escalated. The escalated documents are separately packed.

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 • Documents passing the set specifications are collated with other support
documents; put in envelopes and packed for dispatch after appropriately labeling
them to Client Agency shops/customers.

• All transactions are counted, recorded & sealed for dispatch to the Client Agency.
In both the above cases, the dispatch process is completed through a tie-up with a
global courier organization operating out of India as well as the Client Agency‘s
location(s). The specifics of the courier process deliverables can be finalized with
the Client Agency separately.

Ensuring Quality for the Dispatch Process

• A complete checklist is made for all the different jobs to be handled. The person
handling the each job ensures the job once completed is checked against the
checklist to complete the Quality Check. The supervisor on duty again does a
random check to ensure all procedures are being followed.

• Each staff handles only one document at a time to ensure no mixing of documents
occurs at any level.

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 CHAPTER-4

DATA ANALYSIS

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Q1. How is your experience with Thomas Cook ticketing process?

Average 13

Good 20

Excellent 67

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 67% of respondents had excellent experience with Thomas
Cook ticketing process, 20% of respondents had good and remaining 13% had average.

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Q2. What is your experience with online reservation facility?

Average 22

Good 30

Excellent 48

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 48% of respondents found online reservation system
excellent , 30% of respondents found it good and remaining 22% said online reservation
is average..

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Q3. What is your mode of ticket reservation?

Directly 15

Online 55

Through Agent 30

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 55% of respondents said that booked their tickets online,
30% said that they booked their ticket through agent and remaining 15% said that they
booked their ticket directly.

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Q4. How would you describe the ease with which you booked your airline ticket,
hotel reservation, your tour etc

Difficult 15

A little difficult 25

Neither 25

Easy 35

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 35% of respondents found their hotel reservation, ticket
reservation and tour reservation easy, 25% of respondents found a little difficult, 25% of
respondents found neither and remaining 15% respondents found its difficult.

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Q5. Do you think the amount paid by you for the ticket reservation is reasonable?

Yes 65

No 35

INTERPRETATION

Above graph shows that 65% of respondents are satisfied with the amount they paid and
remaining 35% are not satisfied.

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Q6. Which class of airline ticket would you like to reserve?

Economic 45

Business 55

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 55% of respondents had opt for the business class section
reservation and remaining 45% of respondents like economic class section.

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Q7. Which one would be your preferred airlines?

Jet Airways 15
Kingfisher Airlines 20
Indian Airlines 15
Indigo 25
Spice Jet 20
Others 5

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 15% of respondents preferred jet airways, 20% of
respondents preferred Kingfisher Airlines, 15% of respondents preferred Indian Airlines,
25% of respondents preferred Indigo, 20% of respondents preferred spice jet and
remaining 5% preferred others.

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Q8. Would you like to be updated with our new packages of reservation?

Yes 70

No 30

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 70% of respondents preferred like to update with our new
packages of reservation and remaining 30% of respondents are not interested.

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Q9. How is the hotel reservation provided to you by Thomas Cook?

Average 24

Good 22

Excellent 54

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 54% of respondents found there hotel reservation excellent,
22% Good and remaining 24% average.

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 CHAPTER 5

FINDINGS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

72
 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FINDINGS

• Most of the customers are happy with customer service and had good image of
Thomas Cook. There are using the services and would also recommend the same to
their friends and relatives.

• Thomas Cook has proven one of the most successful examples of how an advertising
message can be modified from one campaign to the next to attribute new methods of
online ticket reservation system giving consumers more reasons to book tickets
through this medium.

• The ticketing process of Thomas Cook is found excellent by majority share of

customers as 67% of them found it excellent, 20% of people found it good and
remaining 13% found them average.

• Introduction of online reservation facility has been adopted by maximum number of

people as 48% had excellent experience, 30% good and 22% had average experience.

• It has been found that ticketing reservation has been cancelled or changed without
any prior notice which as a result lead to loss of goodwill.

• As the company does not provide any discount on ticket reservation so the customers
are switching to there competing companies

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 RECOMMENDATIONS

1) An immediate response should be given for people who are

making there reservations online in form of mail feedback or any other medium.

2) Decent discounts should be provided on the reservations and

special discounts should be introduced during vacations and festivals.

3) The online booking form should not be complicated but should be

made easier so as to attract more customers.

4) Company should provide customers with such attractive offers

that they feel satisfied for the amount paid and would recommend them to there
relatives and friends.

5) To increase the goodwill of the company further in the minds of

customers. Thomas Cook should send greetings to its customers on occasions
like festivals, birthdays and anniversaries. small gifts like calendars, diaries, cards
etc.

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ANNEXURE

75
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1. How is your experience with Thomas Cook ticketing process?

• Average

• Good

• Excellent

Q2. How is your experience with online reservation facility?

• Average

• Good

• Excellent

Q3. What is your mode of ticket reservation?

• Directly

• Online

• Through Agent

Q4. How would you describe the ease with which you booked your airline ticket,
hotel reservation, your tour etc

• Difficult

• A little difficult

• Neither

• Easy

Q5. Do you think the amount paid by you for the ticket reservation is reasonable?

• Yes

• No

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Q6. Which class of airline ticket would you like to reserve?

• Economic

• Business

Q7. Which one would be your preferred airlines?

• Jet Airways

• Kingfisher Airlines

• Indian Airlines

• Indigo

• Spice Jet

• Others

Q8. Would you like to be updated with our new packages of reservation?

• Yes

• No

Q9. How is the hotel reservation provided to you by Thomas Cook?

• Average

• Good

• Excellent

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Magazines

Business Today

India Today

Websites

www.thomascook.in

www.visittoindiatours.com

Newspapers

Hindustan Times

Times of India

Business Times

Mint Newspaper

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