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Delta
Air Lines Ticket Price Audit |
 |
 Situation |
 |
Delta Air Lines suspected
that complicated fare construction rules were not always coded
correctly in ticket sales systems known as "Computerized
Reservation Systems" (CRS) run by third parties such as
Sabre, Apollo, and AMADEUS. This resulted in many tickets being
sold at less that the intended price. Delta contractually could
recover the amount of each pricing mistake but had no way to
identify the many thousands of pricing mistakes in a cost-effective
and systematic way. Several million dollars were being flushed
down the drain monthly and the CRS operators had no incentive
to change.
| Action |
|
A
powerful audit system was constructed using an Oracle database,
Cognos PowerPlay--a query and data analysis tool, and custom
C++ functions. This system produced debit memos monthly that
were sent to the CRS Operators by a senior Delta Executive.
| Result |
|
The first monthly check received by Delta was from
the biggest CRS operator and was in the amount of $450,000. Total checks received
quickly totaled in millions of dollars. CRS operators implemented changes that
improved the pricing behavior, resulting in ongoing improvements to Delta's bottom
line.
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