9 July 2026 | What’s Changing in Travel Retail This Month and Why It Matters for Your Travel Agency

New Travelport+ capabilities from Cayman Airways, Etihad & Korean Air plus scheduled APF maintenance. What's changing and why it matters for your agency.

Johannesburg South Africa – 9 July 2026  — Over the last three decades, travel technology in Southern Africa has evolved dramatically. From the early days of GDS terminals to today's cloud-based platforms, every step forward has been about the same thing: giving you—the travel agent—better tools to serve your customers with clarity and confidence.

This month brings four important updates to Travelport+ that continue that evolution. Three new airline capabilities unlock smoother customer experiences across key travel corridors. One critical system upgrade keeps your fares and private pricing running smoothly. None are revolutionary. All are practical. All matter.

Whether you're handling a family flying to the Caribbean, a corporate team heading to the Middle East, or an emerging Asia-Pacific account, these updates help you stay in control of your workflow and serve your customers better.

Cayman Airways: Clearer Choices for Caribbean Bookings

What's New
Cayman Airways (KX) has introduced interactive seat mapping and seating selection within Travelport+. As of 30 June 2026, agents booking on Cayman Airways can now visually select seats, view real-time seat availability, and show customers their seating options—all without leaving Smartpoint.

Why This Matters
Caribbean leisure bookings are a staple for many Southern African agencies. Cayman Airways serves family holidays, destination weddings, and getaway traffic to the Cayman Islands and regional routes. Until now, managing seat selection often meant switching between systems or relying on the airline's direct booking interface.

With interactive seating, you can:

• Show customers exactly which seats are available in real time
• Handle seat selection as part of your core booking workflow
• Reduce customer queries about seating once the booking is confirmed
• Offer seat-based upsell conversations (premium economy, extra legroom) with visual clarity

This is about keeping the conversation with your customer inside your system, where you control the experience.

Etihad Airways: Greater Flexibility on Cancellations

What's New
Etihad Airways (EY) has activated electronic ticket cancellation refund capability within Travelport+. Effective 25 June 2026, agents can now process Etihad cancellations and issue refunds directly—without manual intervention or third-party ticketing.

Why This Matters
Etihad is a critical carrier for corporate travel to the Middle East (Abu Dhabi hub) and Africa (extensive network across the continent). Many Southern African corporate accounts have regular traffic on Etihad to either regional hubs or onward international connections.

Historically, ticket cancellations and refunds often required manual processing: agent raises the request, operations team processes it, customer waits. That friction adds up, especially for corporate clients with strict approval workflows.

With electronic ticket cancellation refunds, you can now:

• Process cancellations instantly without manual ticketing
• Issue refunds in real time, improving customer service speed
• Manage corporate policy changes and schedule adjustments without back-office delays
• Keep your booking record complete and audit-ready in Travelport+

For agencies managing corporate programs in particular, this reduces operational overhead and improves customer satisfaction.

Korean Air: Clear Ancillary Pricing for Asia-Pacific Growth

What's New
Korean Air (KE) has released Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) ancillary capability within Travelport+. As of 30 June 2026, agents can now see and book excess baggage fees directly in their booking workflow. Specifically, the update covers:

• First excess bag (RFISC 0CC)
• Second excess bag (RFISC 0CD)
• Third or more excess bags (RFISC 0CE)

Why This Matters
Korean Air is a gateway to Asia-Pacific leisure and corporate travel. Whether your customers are expanding into markets like Seoul, Bangkok, or Singapore, or they're connecting through Incheon to North America or Europe, Korean Air's extensive SkyTeam network matters.

One of the biggest pain points in modern air travel is ancillary clarity. Customers ask:

What's the baggage allowance? How much for an extra bag? Can I bring two checked pieces?"

Without clear visibility on ancillary pricing in the booking system, you often end up answering these questions in email or WhatsApp instead of in the booking moment.

With EMD ancillary pricing now visible in Travelport+, you can:

• Quote excess baggage costs at the time of booking—not after
• Manage customer expectations on luggage charges before they're surprised at the airport
• Include ancillary details in your booking confirmation and itinerary
• Support corporate travel policies that need transparent baggage handling costs

For leisure agents handling Asia-Pacific growth, and corporate teams managing frequent long-haul travel, this adds transparency to the sale.

System Update: Agency Private Fares Database Upgrade

What's Happening
The Travelport Engineering team is performing a scheduled upgrade to the Agency Private Fares (APF) database on 16 July 2026.

Timing
The maintenance window is 22:00–00:00 SAST (South African Standard Time) on the night of 16 July.

For reference, that's 20:00–22:00 GMT / 16:00–18:00 ET / 04:00–06:00 SGT.

During this window, the APF user application will be temporarily unavailable for approximately 15 minutes—between 22:15 and 22:30 SAST (20:15–20:30 GMT).

What You Need to Know
Private fares are the backbone of negotiated corporate rates and special pricing that many of your accounts depend on. This upgrade ensures the APF system continues to run reliably, stays secure, and supports your growing business.

The downtime is brief and scheduled well outside typical Southern African business hours—late evening on 16 July for Jo'burg and Cape Town, wrapping up by midnight. We recommend:

• Being aware of the maintenance window if you're working across multiple time zones
• Noting that any fare lookups during the 15-minute unavailability window may experience delays
• Planning any critical private fare quotes or large uploads for before or after this window

This is routine maintenance that keeps your pricing platform stable and current.

What Ties These Updates Together

These four updates—three new airline capabilities and one system maintenance—reflect the same principle that's driven travel technology in Southern Africa for 30 years: practical evolution in service of better customer outcomes.

You don't need revolution. You need clarity. You need systems that stay out of your way. You need your tools to work with your workflow, not against it.

Whether it's showing a customer exactly where they're sitting on their Caribbean holiday, issuing a refund without a three-day wait, quoting a baggage fee at the moment of booking, or knowing that your private fares are running on a secure, upgraded system—these are all about keeping control in your hands.

These updates are now live (or coming by 30 June). If you have questions about how any of these work in your workflow, your Travelport Southern Africa business manager is ready to help.

Your technology should serve your business. That's what we're building.

Read more about these latest developments on our website, or connect with us on Travelport Southern Africa's LinkedIn.

About Travelport Southern Africa 

Travelport is a global travel technology company connecting travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and travel providers through a modern travel retailing platform. Its technology enables travel businesses to search, compare, book, and service travel across multiple suppliers through a single integrated platform. In Southern Africa, Travelport works with a wide network of travel agencies, corporate travel providers, and travel groups. Through its new regional operator model, the company combines its global technology platform with strong local expertise to support the evolving needs of the regional travel industry. Travelport continues to invest in modern travel retailing, including new airline distribution capabilities, AI-driven tools, and automation designed to help travel businesses operate more efficiently and deliver better traveller experiences.