Look-to-book abuse occurs when automated bots or malicious users repeatedly search for flight availability and pricing without making a booking. This high volume of search activity can overwhelm airline systems, leading to increased server strain, inaccurate demand forecasting, and lost revenue opportunities. It disrupts normal operations, making it difficult for airlines to maintain efficient inventory management and pricing strategies.
What is look-to-book abuse?
Look-to-book abuse, also called look-to-book fraud, is a hidden form of bot activity that affects airlines worldwide. Unlike traditional fraud involving monetary theft, look-to-book abuse involves bots making numerous pricing queries without purchasing tickets. These bots, often controlled by unauthorized entities, manipulate performance metrics by inflating the number of inquiries or “looks” compared to actual bookings or “books.” This results in distorted data, which can lead to poor decision-making and inflated costs for airlines.
The fundamental issue with look-to-book abuse lies in its ability to skew the look-to-book ratio, a critical metric for the service providers that airlines use to manage their schedules and booking. This ratio calculates how many times flights are queried against actual bookings. A high look-to-book ratio indicates inefficiency and will lead to overage fees from their service providers. For airlines, managing this ratio to keep it as low as possible but without interrupting legitimate users is crucial to reducing operational costs.
How does look-to-book abuse happen?
Understanding how look-to-book abuse occurs is essential for any airline aiming to tackle this problem. Most airlines outsource their booking to a global distribution system (GDS) that manages flight schedules, pricing, and bookings. These GDSs charge airlines based on their look-to-book ratio and often have strict limits to avoid overage fees.
Unauthorized online travel agencies (OTAs), cost comparison sites, and other aggregators use bots to exploit the workflows in these systems by making multiple inquiries without booking any tickets. This artificially inflates the look-to-book ratio, resulting in higher costs for airlines. These bots can also target specific routes or flights, skewing data even further and potentially leading to incorrect route planning or pricing decisions.
Authorized OTAs and aggregators use bots within agreed-upon parameters to access flight data. However, unauthorized entities exploit this system, bypassing agreements to scrape data freely and frequently. This high volume of requests not only distorts the look-to-book ratio but also increases the fees airlines must pay for global distribution system (GDS) queries.
Without visibility into the traffic patterns, airlines struggle to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized bot activity. This lack of transparency presents a significant challenge, allowing unauthorized entities to gather information while avoiding the fees and conditions imposed on legitimate partners.
How does look-to-book abuse impact airlines?
The repercussions of look-to-book abuse extend far beyond distorted metrics and demographics on passengers. The financial implications are substantial, as illustrated by some airlines incurring up to $500,000 per month in GDS overage fees due to unauthorized bot traffic. This fraud also compromises the accuracy of business insights, leading to inefficient resource allocation and potential revenue loss.
For airlines, maintaining the integrity of their data is crucial. Look-to-book abuse distorts key performance indicators, making it difficult for airlines to gauge the effectiveness of their operations accurately. This skewing of metrics can result in misguided strategies and decisions, affecting the bottom line.
In addition to financial losses, look-to-book abuse is often associated with other types of bot problems such as fare scraping, seat spinning, flight status checking, and booking fraud. And at a higher rate of abuse, a cybercriminal can create a bot that performs an excessive number of lookups to intentionally run up overage fees for the airline. In extreme cases, this approaches the level of fraud.
Preventing look-to-book abuse.
Combatting look-to-book abuse requires a multifaceted approach, integrating technology, policy, and vigilance. Here are some effective strategies airlines can implement to mitigate this issue:
Rate limiting and monitoring.
Implementing rate limiting is a basic step in controlling excessive requests. By setting thresholds on the number of queries allowed within a specific period, airlines can manage bot activity more effectively. Monitoring traffic patterns helps identify anomalies and unauthorized access, enabling quick intervention.
Authentication and access control.
Establishing strong authentication measures can deter unauthorized bots. Requiring API keys and implementing secure access protocols ensures only authorized entities can retrieve data. Regular audits of access logs can further enhance security by identifying and blocking unauthorized attempts.
Advanced bot mitigation solutions.
Investing in advanced bot mitigation solutions is essential for staying ahead of evolving threats. These solutions use machine learning and behavioral analysis to detect and block suspicious activity in real-time. By continuously adapting to new bot tactics, airlines can safeguard their data and maintain accurate metrics.
Collaboration with industry partners.
Collaboration among airlines, OTAs, and aggregators is vital to address look-to-book abuse collectively. Establishing clear agreements and communication channels helps identify and mitigate unauthorized activity. Sharing insights and best practices within the industry enhances collective resilience against this persistent threat.
Look to Book Abuse: A persistent problem for airlines.
The battle against look-to-book abuse is ongoing, but with the right strategies and tools, airlines can reclaim control over their data and metrics. By understanding the intricacies of this abuse and implementing comprehensive prevention measures, airlines can enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and safeguard their reputation.
For those in the airline industry, staying informed and proactive is key. Engage with experts, invest in the right technologies, and foster collaboration to effectively combat look-to-book abuse. The future of airline success depends on a secure, transparent, and efficient digital landscape.
How Vercara can help.
Vercara’s UltraAPI suite offers specialized solutions designed to shield APIs from look-to-book abuse and other forms of attacks. It includes three key components:
The UltraAPI Bot Manager acts as a frontline defense for APIs, thwarting attacks and automated bots that attempt look-to-book abuse.
UltraAPI Comply operates in front of API servers, leveraging machine learning to detect API schemas, data types, and security controls, thus identifying vulnerabilities and associated risks in security and compliance.
UltraAPI Discover examines APIs from an attacker’s perspective across the Internet, pinpointing API endpoints, schema definitions, and the security controls protecting them.
