Moves by IATA to create a new way of distributing flights could “significantly increase” the time it takes to complete an airline booking, the boss of GTMC has warned.
IATA is currently developing its New Distribution Capability which the association wants to use to create an “Amazon-style” shopping experience for selling flights. To find out more about NDC, read our feature.
GTMC chief executive Paul Wait (pictured) warned that NDC had the potential to make the booking process much longer and more complicated than through current channels such as the GDSs.
“Because you will not be able to do comparison shopping you can’t tell what the price is for a flight from London to New York – you will have to look at the carriers separately,” said Wait.
“You also have to see the way everything is broken down into components which will take a lot more time to price up and you have to do it by individual carrier.
“This will create a significant time increase on the person who is doing the booking whether that is a travel consultant or the traveller themselves.”
Wait added that IATA was being “myopic” when it came to NDC because it was not considering the potential impact to those carrying out the bookings.
“They are not thinking about the implications on the end user and the potential amount of additional work to get to a decision that can be reached very quickly today – time is money and somebody has to pay for that,” he said.
IATA is due to give more details about NDC at its World Passenger Symposium 2013 in Dublin from October 29-31.
IATA’s director general Tony Tyler last month attacked opponents of NDC by accusing them of making untrue statements about the new system and insisted that it would “not eliminate comparison shopping” and would “give customers better information on which to make decisions”.
Wait said he wanted to collaborate with IATA on NDC which he admitted was still “a work in progress”. Wait added that he has asked to speak at the association’s symposium in October.
“We’re not here to stop any progress – we are here to be part of the change,” he said. “We are not taking a position of protest, we are saying to IATA that if you involve us then we can help you.”
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