I
t’s nearly a year since
some airlines implemented
surcharges for bookings
made through the GDS.
But agents are frustrated
that despite penalties for
GDS bookings, airline NDC
technology is still unable
to handle the full range of
functions required by TMCs.
“A business case to change
the way agents source airline
products, one which services
agent needs and meets
business requirements, is not
being presented as part of
the so-called direct connect
solutions”, says Otto De
Vries, ceo of Asata. He says
agents are continuing to be
penalised by some airline
partners, when they choose
to continue to use the fit-forpurpose
technology the GDS
offers today.
Jim Weighell, director of
Simpliflyer agrees, saying that
NDC links were still very much
in development phase. He
believes these links have been
developed because airlines
want to open up new channels
in order to avoid GDS costs.
“Unfortunately the airlines
did not grasp that there is
more to TMC functions than
processing point-to-point
bookings. TMCs continue to
be used by all big corporates
because of the complexities
involved in processing
bookings. While NDC channels
may work for leisure or
discretionary travel, these
booking platforms do not
work for large corporates at
this stage, as they have failed
to take all of the ancillary
services that form part of a
travel booking into account,”
he said.
While more and more local
consortiums have released
their own online booking
platforms in the last two
years, it is of interest to note
that many of these systems
have NDC capabilities, but
consortiums have elected not
to connect because these
technologies do not yet cover
the full spectrum of services
that agents require.
Marco Ciochetti, ceo of
XL Travel told TNW when
launching XL’s new Travolution
system earlier this year,
that while it offers direct
connect capabilities, these
are currently dormant. He
explained that while NDC
channels could be used for
point-to-point bookings, the
technologies did not yet
allow tickets to be changed.
“When the airlines are able to
provide more complex direct
connection technology, we will
not hesitate to turn on our
connections,” he told TNW.
Meanwhile local GDS
offerings, not wanting to
lose their oligarchic hold on
the agent market, have all
developed NDC capabilities.
However they remain mum
on how agents will be
remunerated for NDC bookings
and how they will account for
the loss of airline revenue
when facilitating bookings
through these channels.
A handful of global agents
have also announced that
they have signed multi-year
agreements with surcharging
airlines (LH, AF, KL, BA, IB)
allowing them exemption
from GDS surcharges but still
allowing them to book through
these preferred booking
platforms.
Sue Garrett, gm product
and marketing for Flight
Centre Travel Group South
Africa explained that FCTG
has access to non-surcharged
fares through a private
channel agreement with these
carriers and the GDS.
“This is full content,
negotiated at a global level,
that has been provided
through a non-surcharged
channel and can be accessed
by any FCTG business,” she
said.
However Sue agreed that the
lack of airline standardisation
of NDC technology offerings
was a cause for concern,
explaining that Iata was driving
a project where 20 airlines
had committed to having 20%
of their global content booked
via NDC channels. “There is
no standard approach and
at this stage functionality
and content is varied,” she
explained.
Interestingly corporate
travel buyers are increasingly
agreeing that NDC is “a
positive thing” for the industry
with a recent survey from
the Business Travel Show
revealing that 18% of travel
buyers believe that NDC
offers more transparency
with pricing.
