Buyers have urged the travel industry to consult them on how they may be affected by the creation of new ways to distribute flights.
Airline organisation IATA is currently drawing up a new set of technology standards, known as New Distribution Capability (NDC), which aims to create a personalised “Amazon-style” shopping experience for buying flights as an alternative to the traditional GDS form of distribution.
Mark Cuschieri, chair of the ITM industry affairs working party, said: “There are more questions than answers with NDC at the moment. It could be a good thing but currently we are just on a watching brief.
“The issues and concerns are about this element of profiling because that could create differentiated pricing – this could lead to a situation where there may be travellers who don’t know if they are violating policy or not.”
Cuschieri was speaking at a session on NDC at the ITM conference in Windsor. During the debate, other buyers also said they wanted to know more about the potential impact of NDC, particularly from their TMCs.
Ajaya Sodha, chairman of the GTMC, said: “It’s still in its conceptual stage – we now need to get down to the nitty gritty and the detail, including who is going to pay for it.
“We want to work with the airlines on NDC which they want to use to provide a full service to customers. Currently you sell an airline ticket and then you have to buy a meal on the airline’s website.”
Sodha added that the GTMC was “actively talking” to the ITM about NDC and other major issues affecting buyers and the wider business travel industry.
Luke Goggin, head of corporate sales for British Airways, said change was needed because the GDS legacy systems were more than 40 years old. But he stressed that “NDC is not a GDS replacement – it will go alongside the GDSs”.
“It’s about simplification and modernisation,” he said. “The system cannot currently do what consumers want in terms of content, and we are trying to get the point where it does offer that.
“BA has a full range of services but we want to be able to distribute them through other channels and not just ba.com. Legacy systems only allow people to shop on price and availability.
“Airlines are investing millions on their product but when all you can see is price and availability - this is not a retail environment that is allowing consumers to make an informed decision.”
IATA has said that it will be producing more details about NDC’s technology standards in the autumn.