5 benefits of the NDC for corporate travellers

Although a lot of noise has been made around how this new set of rules will ‘facilitate’ communication between travel agents and airlines, why should the corporate traveller care about this? The short answer is: because it will offer you quite a few benefits.

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FCM Travel Solutions compiled a round-up of how the NDC could change the corporate travellers' booking experience.

1. Offers tailored to your preferences

With NDC, travellers can choose to save their information to their profile. Rest assured, if you suffer from Big Brother phobia, you don’t have to save your details to your profile. However, by saving your information, you can have the benefit of easily customising your search results.

For example, Wi-Fi on the plane could be included in your company’s corporate agreement with the airline, while for the leisure traveller, Wi-Fi will cost an additional R150 on the same flight. The different pricing results will immediately be reflected in the NDC results, giving you a more accurate overview of what you can expect to pay.

Thanks to the NDC, airlines will also be able to access any personal information the customer is willing to share to construct an offer tailored to that specific client. Take Lufthansa as an example. The airline could send you an offer for a Bavarian brewery tour if you have a long stopover in Munich.

2. Faster service from your travel agent

For the travel agent, the new communication standard means they can pay for a preferred seat, add additional baggage or re-order catering through any Global Distribution System (GDS) they are using instead of having to book this on the airline’s website. Right now, if you want to book pre-boarding or pre-pay for your luggage with the travel agent or the travel management company (TMC), the consultant has to leave the GDS. With NDC, agents will be able to shop for all these services in a single transaction in one place.

For the traveller, this means that the travel agent will be able to offer you a lot more options in a more efficient way, whether you would like extra legroom, extra baggage fees, comfort class upgrades or special meals.

3. A visual representation of what to expect from your travels

Hesitating if that extra legroom is worth the splurge?

Since NDC is based on a high-quality XML standard, both travellers and travel agents will have access to a rich content experience with pictures and videos. That means that you can see exactly how much extra space you are actually buying. It also makes it easier for
you to compare several items (and airlines) at once.

For travel agents, the visual representation means it becomes easier to communicate with clients about product differentiation beyond price and schedule.

4. The ability to compare apples with apples

It can sometimes be hard to understand exactly why your travel agent or TMC advises you to pay more for a flight that leaves at about the same time and follows the same itinerary. Why would you fly Air France instead of British Airways, for example, if you’re headed to
Brussels? One will take you via Paris, the other via London, but other than that: what’s the difference?

Thanks to the NDC, the travel agent or TMC can show you what the seats on your chosen airline look like, help you compare what you can expect from the lounge and what mileage you earn on each airline.

5. An easier way to book low-cost carriers

The rise of low-cost carriers, which were traditionally outside the GDS, have seen travel managers lose visibility and control of a growing proportion of their air spend. The NDC could help in this regard.

IATA explains that for low-cost carriers with no GDS presence, NDC will enable such a carrier – which today only sells direct to the customer – to sell via travel agents and TMCs, using technology compatible with their website.

The reality is that the NDC could have profound effects on how air travel is booked and marketed to travellers in the next few years.

If it’s that great, why is not everyone jumping on the NDC bandwagon?

Firstly, the NDC implementation doesn’t come cheap. The technology is expensive and it’s not a mandatory requirement for any airline or travel agency.

The NDC is not a uniform technology either and can look different from one organisation to the next. There are different versions of NDC as well as different levels.

How about the surcharges airlines have started charging? A number of airlines have started charging fees for bookings made in the GDS, instead of through their own channel or through the NDC. Among these are Lufthansa, British Airways, Iberia Airlines, and Air France - KLM.

The Flight Centre Travel Group has signed multi-year distribution deals with most of these airlines to eliminate the booking surcharge. This means that FCM Travel Solutions’ clients will be exempt from the surcharge.

Further good news is that the three main global distribution systems: Amadeus, Travelport and Sabre, have all decided to get on-board with NDC capability.

The reality is that the NDC could have profound effects on how air travel is booked and marketed to travellers in the next few years. Exciting times are ahead…