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…
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…
One consequence of airlines externalizing the cost of distribution is that it’s pushed to corporate customers. American Express Global Business Travel as of Feb. 20 will invoice clients an extra 3 percent of the ticket price (excluding taxes and airport fees) on all bookings with Qantas purchased in Australia. According to a copy of a…
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…
After several delays, India’s central bank this fall enacted payment security rules prohibiting the storage by merchants of customers’ credit card details. Instead, digital tokens would stand in. Not entirely ready, the travel industry got an extension, to June 2024, to work out how to use tokens when intermediaries like GDSs, TMCs and OBTs are…
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…
American Airlines on Monday told travel agencies that more than 40 percent of its existing content, as well as newly developed offers, would be accessible only through “modern” channels come April. It’s another component of AA’s new overarching revenue strategy that revamps some corporate travel traditions. Some buyers praised AA for taking the leap. It…
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