Travel Technology

Bring it on, 2014.

Airlines have been faster at rolling out tablets to in-flight crews than airport employees, but both places present valuable opportunities for carriers to improve the customer experiences.

By bringing in former Continental chairman and CEO Larry Kellner as Sabre chairman, and installing Tom Klein as the new CEO, Sabre is signaling that it is readying a strategic move, possibly an IPO, in the near future. The Travelocity deal with Expedia, Travelocity divestments of zuji and Travelocity Business, and these layoffs may all be pieces of the puzzle.

Hey, the airline business is rough, and with this acquisition Amadeus gets diversification, and a much bigger foothold into the hotel sector, particularly for groups and events. Companies such as Pegasus, Sabre, and Trust International could feel the competitive impact.

There are hundreds of social travel startups that are attempting to tie the inspiration, planning, or sharing stages of travel to users' social networks. Minube started earlier and includes a full scope of features that can make it a one-stop shop for users.

These are the opinions of one executive at one of several in-flight Wi-Fi providers that would gain great profits from expanded in-flight connectivity. We can't take his goals as gospel, but it's a vision that all flyers would like to see actualize.

The most Instagrammed cities and places of 2013 are largely located in the U.S. so it's little surprise that the company is looking to hire an international communications manager. It needs more than U.S. travelers in foreign countries to expand its reach.

Travel activities make up a significant portion of social sharing, creating vast opportunities for companies to engage customers before, during, and after a trip.

Instagram Direct is a nice new feature, but hardly anything revolutionary. Travel marketers might make some use of it, but it doesn't look like anything that could provide any scale to such attempts.