Books
Each book stands alone and ends with a scored diagnostic you can run on your own organisation.
Who Sells Airline Tickets, Through Which Channels, and What It Costs
Airline distribution has a reputation as the most impenetrable subject in commercial aviation. The book explains the whole machine from its economics: the GDS model and its money flows, BSP and ARC settlement, third-party ticketing and interline, the true cost of the direct channel, and an honest scorecard for NDC after more than a decade. It ends with a 30-point Distribution Strategy Audit and a score card.
Published 6 October 2026.
How Airlines and Travel Companies Get Paid, and What It Really Costs
The agency and merchant models, BSP cash and card sales, acquiring and approval rates, multi-acquirer setups, orchestration platforms, fraud and disputes, alternative payment methods, virtual cards, currency and settlement, refunds and disruption, reconciliation and leakage, and what changes when the buyer is software rather than a person. It ends with a 40-point Travel Payments Health Check and a score card.
Published 6 October 2026.
What Airlines Run On, What It Costs, and How to Choose Without Overpaying
The third machine after selling and getting paid. Passenger service systems, offers and orders, booking engines, departure control and revenue accounting, read through what they cost to run and what it takes to change one. A passenger service system usually outlives the people who chose it, which is what makes the choice worth doing carefully.
Publishes 10 November 2026.
How Airline Loyalty Programmes Make Money, and What They Are Really Worth
Expected January 2027.
How Airlines Turn Seats into Offers, and What Selling More Really Costs
Expected March 2027.
The scored appendix from each book is available on its own, as a fillable PDF, whether or not you ever buy anything. Thirty questions on distribution, forty on payments.
Mathieu Montmessin has spent two decades inside airline distribution and travel payments, at Amadeus, as EVP at Hahn Air, and now as an independent advisor. He writes about both subjects at montmessin.com/writing.