Major DFW Travel Agency Voices Support for Efficiency in Travel Distribution; Canyon Creek Travel/American Express Signs on for Sabre Efficient Access Solution; Urges Airlines to Support Full GDS Content Access and Protection from Service Fees

RICHARDSON, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 7, 2006–Canyon Creek Travel/American Express, a leading Dallas-Fort Worth travel agency focused on business and leisure travel, announced it has signed on for the Sabre Travel Network Efficient Access Solution, a program that offers the agency full travel content and protection from airline service fees from participating program carriers. The agency also expressed the importance of preserving full airline content in the Global Distribution System (GDS), and urged carriers and GDS companies to reach speedy agreement to avoid costly fragmentation of distribution content.

“Travel agencies that thrive in today’s marketplace are those that can work efficiently and creatively to meet rapidly changing customer demands,” said Randal Limbacher, president and owner of Canyon Creek Travel/American Express. “To do that, we must have all travel options at our fingertips, queued up for immediate booking and presented to agents in a familiar and flexible workflow environment. To force agents to search multiple sites for full content is to cripple our productivity and squander our competitive advantage.”

Limbacher, whose agency focuses 70% on business travel, spoke especially passionately about the impact of fragmented content and service fees on corporate travel. “One out of every five airline tickets sold in North America is sold to the business traveler, the majority of whom book through a travel agency for convenience and service,” he said.

Limbacher specifically urged American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, and Sabre Travel Network, the world’s leading Global Distribution System, to come to agreement on GDS terms. “For DFW agents especially, American is a critical link in supplying our customers’ needs.”

To other travel agencies, Limbacher said, “I believe we should all act collectively to assist in lowering distribution costs for our airline partners and contribute to their profitability. If our partners are not successful, we do not have anything to sell!”

About Canyon Creek Travel/American Express

Canyon Creek Travel/American Express is a Richardson, Texas-based full service travel agency focusing on both business and leisure travel.

CONTACT: Canyon Creek Travel/American Express
Randal Limbacher, 972-238-1998
randal.limbacher@canyoncreektravel.com