March 29, 2023

American Airlines Fare Distribution

Background

All eyes are on how the travel industry stakeholders, including corporate clients, travel management companies, online booking tools, and other technology providers are responding to American Airlines’ (AA) plan to remove up to 40% of public content from the global distribution systems (GDS) to New Distribution Capability (NDC)-enabled channels starting April 3, 2023.

These changes will initially apply only to American Airlines’ U.S. domestic and Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, and Latin America fares, so we anticipate sizable disruption across the industry from this change.

What have we been doing to prepare for this?

Travel One has been working behind the scenes to help prepare our customers’ programs for this shift – collaborating with the entire corporate travel ecosystem, sharing readiness plans and alternate options. And we have also been working with our technology platforms to understand what options are possible to offer and service AA’s NDC content.

What does this mean for your travel program?

Unfortunately, there is no seamless solution to meet AA’s imposed April 3 timeline, considering the technical limitations of the NDC ecosystem which includes the online booking tools.

Limitations when booking American Airlines NDC tickets:

Only limited fare types on complex routes
Limited flight options on high-frequency routes
No credit option for cancelled AA NDC tickets
No approval process for NDC tickets purchased through an online booking tool
Limited options when changing flights
Changing travel plans may take longer
Additional delays can be expected in the event of travel disruptions

Options available for all customers

	Pros	Cons	Costs	Unknowns / Risks
Maintain current online booking process	· Consistent access to content remaining in GDS	Potential lack of full content and fare offerings Traveler confusion on pricing between sources Some contracted fares may not be available Potential difficulty meeting AA contract commitments if applicable	Potentially higher average ticket price – amount unknown based on AA disclosure strategy	AA may increase the exclusive content in NDC at any time
Shift affected AA bookings from online to Travel One Advisor	Maintain access to lower fare classes Travel One Advisors use Travelport GDS to access NDC content	Behavior change for travelers when booking AA Reduced value of online channel	Increased transaction fee due to additional Advisor interactions	Extent of service level impact
Travel One is testing 3^rd Party technology (Travel Fusion) to access AA content in the online booking tools. Timeline TBD	Maintain access to lower fare classes Access to some NDC unique special offers Less inconsistency with AA website for prices	Travelers Tickets are instant purchase – No Book/Hold/Void One Way/Round Trip tickets only No mixed carrier on NDC bookings No online cancel Unused tickets on file cannot be applied to new ticket Travel Managers Limited client reporting Minimum class of service offering Servicing Limited exchange capability Longer call times Unsupported Travel One Products SafeToGo – Traveler tracking Travel One Low Fare Finder Unused ticket tracking	Fees Travel One Non-GDS Fee per booking will apply Online unassisted Offline / online assisted Cost / Opportunity Loss Increased offline transactions Low Fare Finder rebooking is not available AA unused tickets are unusable at this time	Travel Fusion, a partner of Concur, is a Chinese owned company operating in London, England Value of airfare savings Extent of service level impact

In order to provide the best service and the lowest applicable airfare to travelers, Travel One is updating all online booking sites to recommend contacting your Travel One Advisors to book American Airlines reservations. This is a temporary solution until our technology partners have modified their platforms to effectively integrate NDC content.

Finally, Travel One is continuing to work with our technology partners to prepare for this shift. While we’re confident in our readiness, the reality is that no one can offer a seamless customer solution by April 3. You have our commitment to continue to communicate and collaborate with the entire ecosystem to deliver NDC at scale and to make sure your travelers have the best and most comprehensive access to airline content in the marketplace.

Please contact your Travel One account manager for additional information and to answer any questions you may have.

Travel One Alert: American Airlines Fare Distribution

American Airlines Fare Distribution

Previous PostOn the Go - March 31, 2023

Next PostOn the Go - March 23, 2023

Author SteveN