Duffel in online booking shake-up

British travel tech company Duffel is expected to announce today it has raised $30m from investors to launch a new booking platform with some of the world’s biggest carriers including American Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa Group and Iberia.

Duffel is promising to reinvent the infrastructure behind online travel booking by enabling travel agencies to plug-in directly to airlines’ reservation systems via an API to pull real-time flight offers, make bookings, access live seat availability and buy extra services.

Co-founder and CEO Steve Domin said new digital and mobile travel agencies, Duffel’s target market, had until now been forced to accept long lead times and high costs to access “clunky” flight booking systems, legacy APIs and outdated cryptic screens.

He added: “By giving agents a way to connect instantly with airlines, Duffel represents the biggest shake-up of the travel sector since the launch of budget air travel.

“Just as fintech companies are connecting the fragmented world of payments and finance, Duffel brings together airlines so travel agents can swiftly assemble an end-to-end experience for their clients.

“Online and mobile travel companies, including corporate travel bookers, are able to see live seat availability from the world’s biggest airlines, as well as additional offers on in-flight meals or luggage allocations.”

www.duffel.com

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