American Airlines Adds Incentives to Smooth NDC Transition for Travel Advisors

A little over two weeks since American Airlines shocked the U.S. travel trade by reversing course on its decision to cut much of the trade out of its loyalty program, the airline is now incentieving advisors to get over to NDC, instead of punishing them for not.

American, in a message sent to its partners seen by TMR this week, is adding some rewards for advisors who book through NDC, among a host of other moves that it says it hopes will “remove pain points for our partners.” 

The incentives include added bonuses for American’s “enhanced products,” which include Main Select, Main Plus, and Flagship Business Plus fares. Many advisors will see incentive bonsues for those bookings through the end of September.

Other incentives are being added for American’s ancillary products—the carrier started doing that this week and says it will continue to reward “ancillary revene” with a bonus, also through the end of September.

American’s content dropped from EDIFACT is also returning, though Basic Economy fares and enhanced fares such as Main Select, Main Plus, and Flagship Business Plus will be available only through direct and NDC-enabled channels.

Outside of the incentives, American’s message focuses on stressing the importance of the NDC transition, while also emphasizing that the airline is listening to trade feedback, which had been overwhelmingly negative since American started down its previous path.

“We continue to believe NDC is the future of airline distribution and want to express our deep appreciation to those agencies that have worked so hard to migrate to NDC channels. We’re committed to and excited about continuing our exploration of the capabilities and benefits new technology can bring,” the message said.

Zane Kerby, the president and CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), told TMR earlier this month shortly after the news broke that American would have ideally used the “carrot and not the stick” to get its partners over to NDC, a strategy that it seems to have leaned into this week.

“The application for NDC was in 2013 or 2014 to the DOT, so I understand them getting antsy and wanting to move quickly. But forcing the undeveloped technology and using sticks not carrots in order to push people past their breaking points” was not the correct move, and proved as much for American, he said.