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A strategic partnership between Travel Guard North America and Vayant Travel Technologies was announced. The new partnership will help travelers and travel businesses choose from a larger array of airline carrier combinations through split-ticketing to receive better flight prices and more itinerary options, plus travel insurance protection in the event of a missed connection.
Many travel sites today avoid handling split tickets for complex travel itineraries due to the complexity of pricing, taxation and the hassle involved in navigating interline rules, as well as a lack of relevant technology. Vayant and Travel Guard are embracing the challenge through a shared commitment to provide seamless customer experience with increased choice and protection.
By combining non-interline carriers on a single itinerary, Vayant’s split-ticketing capabilities (branded as Multiline+) greatly increase the number of options available to travelers when booking flights, and can substantially lower travel cost. Consumers flying on split-ticketed itineraries today miss out on some of the protections that cooperating airlines traditionally provide for missed connections. With Travel Guard, Vayant will provide new offerings to travelers worldwide to make split-ticketed itineraries far more appealing and less risky than a standard interline/alliance itinerary.
Working with Travel Guard, Vayant will provide case-level missed connection data as well as real-time claims management information through its unique technology platform. Vayant’s powerful proprietary algorithms and comprehensive live data now allow travel insurance to be offered more easily to split ticket purchasers. The technology bridges a significant information gap that has historically interfered with the flight search and pricing process.
A traveler flying from Newark, NJ to Mykonos, Greece can now choose among prices 70% less than published fares by combining mainline service with LCC service via Paris Orly. Vayant masterminds the itinerary, applies proprietary connection-time algorithms that are customizable to an individual level, and grants connections based on a variety of factors. Travel Guard seamlessly integrates the travel insurance offer within the booking path of the travel seller (online travel agencies, airlines, travel meta-searches and their partners). Working together, Vayant and Travel Guard offer air travelers new, affordable, travel options and the assurance of worldwide coverage to help with a variety of unexpected travel events.
“To complement Vayant’s new offering, we will be developing a new product to provide additional protections and services for travelers coping with economic challenges and changes in the travel marketplace,” said Dean Sivley, president and CEO for Travel Guard North America. “Travel Guard’s products are a perfect addition to Vayant’s technology suite. Together, we’re offering unprecedented flexibility in travel planning, creating new affordable travel options and helping leisure and business travelers plan their travel with confidence.”
“Travel Guard’s global presence, innovation-focused culture and trail-blazing entrepreneurship in travel will allow Vayant’s industrial-grade airfare shopping, pricing and booking-delivery platform, OneSearch, to save travelers significant amounts of money and headache while exploring new ways to their destination,” said Vayant president and CEO Atanas Christov.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
