American Airlines

SAP Concur Builds To Latest NDC Version, ‘Protects’ Clients With Alternatives

SAP Concur said Thursday that its plan for next-generation airline connectivity centered on the 21.3 version of the International Air Transport Association’s NDC schema. Work would be completed no sooner than this summer, according to Concur’s development plans. In the meantime, it said, carriers such as American Airlines — which expects in April to remove…

American Airlines Continues Fallback From Corporate Market

American Airlines is retreating from the managed corporate travel market and erasing its tracks.  According to a World Travel Inc. newsletter, the airline from April 1 will stop providing discounts to companies with less than $1.5 million in annual AA spending. Also as of that date, AA’s corporate accounts “will be provided with points for…

What To Do About Sky-High International Fares

Domestic U.S. airfare growth has moderated and there’s potential for the same in some long-haul international markets. Any company with an appreciable volume of international air travel should see it as a high-value area for spend management. According to Advito, January bookings as of last week for business class tickets to and from North America…

Sabre, TMCs Advance AA NDC Testing

After some initial tests of basic functionality late last year, Sabre and several travel management companies last week started an “expanded pilot” to support fares coming through American Airlines’ NDC-compliant application programming interface. Corporate travel buyers are keen to see progress as they contemplate potentially unwelcome consequences of American’s plan in nine weeks to pull…

Dispatch 2

Before the pandemic, American Airlines crowed about adding to its sales force and growing market share in corporate travel. Conditions have changed. Both corporate travel and airline capacity growth are depressed. Improving profitability and paying down debt are top priorities. After cutting back last year on customer benefits including perks and discounts, now AA is saying goodbye to its…

Explainer: Personalization And Airline Retailing

In light of American Airlines’ plan to move upwards of 40 percent of its fares to direct or NDC-enabled channels as of April, it’s worth re-examining one of the primary motivations: better tailoring products and services for flyers. As described by its developer, the International Air Transport Association, the NDC program enables “personalized service based…

American Airlines Finds Fans, Foes Of Distribution Plan (Audio)

Airline industry folks including a top consultant and tech provider saw American Airlines’ distribution strategy revealed Monday as progress. Corporate travel management company leaders? Not as much.  “This AA announcement appears to remove current content, in the name of NDC, while also limiting other content, which brings confusion to the booking process,” according to a…

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