There will be winners and losers if the proposed acquisition of Hogg Robinson Group's travel management company unit by American Express Global Business Travel happens. One of the wounded is neither person nor company. It's a program: the New Distribution Capability.

Don't blame NDC. It's just a messaging standard. The real loser is the method in which certain airlines, mainly British Airways, but also Lufthansa and soon Air France-KLM, used NDC in showdowns on distribution.

It was one thing when Lufthansa promoted NDC as a means . . .

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Jay Campbell

Before starting The Company Dime with David Jonas in 2014, journalist Jay Campbell a decade earlier created travel business newsletter The Beat. In 2006, Jay co-founded Travel Procurement magazine and in 2010 helped integrate them with Business Travel News. He served as BTN's editorial director until 2013. Jay made his travel industry media debut in 1993 at the Air Travel Journal of Boston while earning his undergraduate degree in journalism at Boston University. He would be happy to connect on LinkedIn. He's here at CorporateTravel.social on Mastodon.