Australian airline Qantas has gone live with its new distribution model, which means bookings made outside of the Qantas Channel could incur a fee.
The Qantas Channel is a new agreement between the airline and agency partners, including international TMCs. Companies already signed up to the platform include the three largest GDSs – Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport – as well as Flight Centre, Corporate Travel Management (CTM), CWT, ATPI, Egencia, American Express Global Business Travel and BCD Travel.
Agencies signed up to the Channel have access to a wider range of the airline’s fares and new content sourced from the NDC-enabled Qantas Distribution Platform, which is currently not available via indirect booking systems.
Bookings made outside direct channels and agencies that haven’t reached an agreement to join the Qantas Channel may incur a fee of AU$17.50 (about £10) per segment.
When launching the Channel in February 2019, chief customer officer Vanessa Hudson said: “We know our customers expect an increasingly personalised, flexible and seamless experience no matter how or where they make their booking, whether it’s directly with us or indirectly through a corporate travel manager, online agent or their local travel agent. The digital environment has changed the way we need to work with our trade partners, and our new technology paired with this new agreement will support us on the journey to delivering our vision for our mutual customers.”
Executive manager of sales and distribution Igor Kwiatkowski added: “The launch of the Qantas Channel, together with our new distribution platform will, over time, empower our agency partners to deliver more enriched and personalised experiences for our mutual customers.”
qantas.com