1000 Mile Travel Group (1000MTG) announces the launch of a groundbreaking travel booking solution, 1000Access, alongside travel technology partner, Sabre. Integrated with the Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS), and utilizing Sabre Red Launchpad technology, this innovative platform is set to redefine the industry standard by providing travel advisors with a seamless travel booking experience.

Providing a consumer-grade user interface, 1000Access makes it easy for independent travel advisors, to book trips quickly. At launch, 1000MTG travel advisors can shop, book and ticket traditional air content, NDC offers, and low-cost carrier XML options. Over time, 1000MTG will activate additional capabilities, including hotel and ground transportation content.

“1000Access represents a paradigm shift in booking travel, blending cutting-edge technology with personalized support to revolutionize the travel advisory booking experience,” says Ben Ross, 1000MTG Co-founder and CEO.

1000Access empowers advisors with an array of unparalleled benefits, including:

• 24/7 automated ticketing capabilities
• Varying and transparent commission rates
• Access to a dedicated Global Fares Desk Manager
• Regional Team Leaders supported by a ticketing team
• Comprehensive after-hours support and phone assistance for urgent same-day departures
• Dedicated assistance from a 1000Access Account Manager during the first month of trading
• Streamlined reporting for Virtuoso members

“Customer-centricity and collaboration are part of Sabre’s DNA. We are proud to partner with 1000MTG to power its 1000Access application. As an early adopter of Sabre Red Launchpad, 1000MTG provided critical insights that helped us go from concept to working code in mere months,” said Kathy Morgan, Vice President of Product Management, Distribution Experience, Sabre Travel Solutions. “As one of our early adopters, we look forward to incorporating additional feedback from 1000Access users to refine our offering before it’s generally available later this year.”

1000Access will be available to a wide audience, including: 1000MTG travel advisors who receive the platform as part of their membership; Virtuoso members; and mid-sized agencies in North America, with other regions to follow.

“Being a part of Virtuoso’s carefully curated list of Air Preferred Partners allows us to offer our clients an air solution that’s tailored to meet their agencies’ specific requirements, regardless of whether they join 1000MTG or not,” says Nicola Veltman, 1000MTG Co-founder and CEO.

“With a commitment to upskilling advisors, 1000Access offers extensive training and support resources, including new member implementation meetings, tool training sessions, and ongoing access to support videos, guides, and webinars,” says Christy Shafer, 1000MTG’s Senior VP and General Manager, North America.

With plans to launch into the United Kingdom and Australia later this year, and with the roll out of additional features including VIP White Glove Service, plus chatbot functionality, 1000Access is ‘air made easy’.

Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

Delta Air Lines took top customer satisfaction honors in two service tiers—first/business and premium economy—while Southwest retained its top ranking for the economy/basic economy tier, according to the J.D. Power 2024 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, released Wednesday.

Delta traded places from last year’s rankings with JetBlue for the first/business tier, with the latter coming in second this year. They were the only two carriers with scores above the average for the category. For premium economy, which Delta also led in 2023, Alaska Airlines was second, followed by American Airlines each above the average. Following Southwest for economy/basic economy, Delta took second as it did in 2023, and Allegiant moved up from sixth place to third. 

The J.D. Power 2024 North America Airlines Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 9,582 passengers who flew on a major North America airline with the past month of completing the survey. The study was fielded from March 2023 through March 2024.

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As for whether overall satisfaction is better than last year, it’s difficult to tell, because J.D. Power revamped its methodology, changing how questions were asked and moving to a six-category scale from a one- to 10-point scale, which resulted in overall lower scores across the categories.

“You really can’t compare last year’s score to this year’s score,” J.D. Power senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service Michael Taylor told BTN. Still, he added that “I would say things are probably the same as they were last year, if not slightly worse. The basic underlying problems of the industry still remain, which is [that] we don’t have enough aircraft flying and prices are quite high, even though demand has not slacked off. … There’s still upside [and] potential.”

Instead of ranking carriers from one to 10, survey takers could rate carriers “poor,” “just okay”, “good,” “great,” “excellent” and “perfect,” Taylor said. The dimensions ranked also shifted from eight to seven, including airline staff, digital tools, ease of travel, level of trust, on-board experience, pre- and post-flight experience and value for price paid.

Two big factors driving overall airline satisfaction were ease of travel and level of trust. “While things like value for price paid are important, it is more important to passengers just to have a seamless flight,” according to the report. 

Taylor added that digital tools scored high as well across all the categories. “Everybody likes the apps,” he said. “They’re getting to the point where they’re easy to use, they’re really communicating well, operating well, and people who use the bag-tracking part of the app—that was worth a lot of points. That was a big swing factor.”

Media coverage also had a major influence on trust scores, according to the report. “Overall satisfaction scores for trust are 400 points lower on a 1,000-point scale among passengers who saw negative news coverage of an airline’s performance in the past year,” according to J.D. Power. 

Still, “the big takeaway from this year’s study in the power of people to positively influence the overall flight experience,” Taylor said in a statement. “Airlines that are investing in staff training and recruitment are finding ways to overcome the negative effects of crowded gates and planes simply by being nice to their customers.”