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The wiki history of SABRE is an interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(travel_reservation_syst...

There is also an entry on IRS Individual Master File, but is short on information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Master_File

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That brings back memories. In the late 90s, I travelled a lot, and managed to get an "Eaasy SABRE" account, which allowed me to book flights essentially like a travel agent, with a UI only slightly better than the one they used.

I remember spending whole evenings piecing together flights for a round-the-world trip at lowest cost. There was little or no error checking. I once almost booked a flight to Sydney, Nova Scotia, instead of the one down under.

Then, tragically, Travelocity shut down the service, leaving their crappy web-based frontend as the only online booking option until ITA came along.

wow, sounds neat. how was payment handled for booking?

IIRC, the service cost a small monthly fee, so you had to have a credit card on file with them. It may have been possible to just charge the booking fees to that credit card. However, I seem to recall there being a payment dialog at the end of the process, where you were prompted to enter a credit card number for payment.

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