IATA Distribution Plan Unleashes War of Words

Controversy over IATA’s New Distribution Capability intensified as ASTA and the Business Travel Coalition called IATA’s claims of “intense coordination” with the travel agency community “an illusion.”

ASTA and the BTC were responding to IATA’s press release formally announcing the adoption of its plan for a New Distribution Capability, or NDC.

In the release, IATA said the NDC standard was created with “participation from airlines, global distribution systems, the travel agency community, including online travel agencies, and IT providers and their respective trade organizations.”

They beg to differ
ASTA and the BTC were quick to rebut that assertion in a joint statement. “IATA cannot legitimately claim this is an ‘industry effort’ on the grounds that one or two individual agencies were present.”

“And the claim that it will enhance competition is called into question in light of NDC’s apparent preclusion of full price transparency and comparison.”

In response, the Association of Retail Travel Agents rebuked ASTA and the Business Travel Coalition, saying they never took the opportunity to “sit down with proponents at the many available fora, only to lambaste alternative distribution systems which [they] knew little about.”

The Open AXIS connection
The NDC envisions a “push” distribution model whereby “personalized” offers to passengers would be formulated within airline systems based on a passenger’s identity, frequent flyer status, purchase history and other factors.

ARTA and ARTA-Canada are members of the Open AXIS Group, formed by several airlines to promote XML as the preferred means of connecting with distributors. GDSs use XML to link with some suppliers, such as low-cost carriers, but they primarily use Edifact messages.

Open AXIS adopted schema developed by Farelogix, the company that built American Airlines’ Direct Connect product, as its technology standard. In turn, IATA adopted that standard as the foundation for the NDC.

Travelport weighed in on the discussion, noting that standards “have the capacity to greatly improve the product offering and the customer experience.” But, Travelport added, they “need to fairly and equally represent the needs of all participants in the end-to-end travel supply chain.”

IATA: why ASTA was not invited
In an email to Travel Market Report, an IATA spokesman said the airline association had invited the technical teams of key members from several groups to participate with technical experts from the airlines and other stakeholders in a working group that will meet in November in Montreal.

“The reason ASTA was not invited was explained at the time: Developing a standard requires expertise, which agents have but their associations do not have. We will continue to collaborate with individual travel agents and their associations in this important project.”

European groups included
IATA also has engaged with ECTAA, the European association of travel agencies and tour operators, and with the Guild of European Business Travel Agents (GEBTA), he said.

“IATA invited ECTAA to an NDC meeting in September in Geneva. IATA attended the GEBTA Board meeting for an NDC presentation in October in Brussels. ECTAA proposed that two of their member agents attend the next NDC workshop in Montreal in November. IATA has accepted and invited them.”

Expedia, an ASTA member, attended the July NDC workshop in Geneva, he said.

The IATA spokesman added that “with regard to concerns over fare shopping, the NDC model has an aggregator role, to compare airline products.”