Technology company Accelya and American Airlines have developed a solution enabling travel agencies to exchange Edifact tickets for NDC tickets.<\/p>\n
Accelya and American hope the solution will forward NDC’s adoption industrywide.<\/p>\n
It addresses what Accelya called a “commonly reported challenge” from travel agencies. And while Accelya said the technology is applicable to any NDC-enabled airlines, it is particularly relevant to travel management companies (TMCs) booking American Airlines because of the carrier’s new NDC strategy.<\/p>\n
Accelya’s solution accesses Edifact tickets issued via GDS using the airline’s application programming interface (API), according to the technology company. It submits fare information to the shopping provider to get a price for the exchange.<\/p>\n
Any carrier can use the solution if it can provide access to GDS-issued Edifact tickets from their host system. And, Accelya said\u00a0if a GDS has implemented NDC, it will be able to enable the ticket-exchange solution in its system.<\/p>\n
“Until now, the inability to exchange unused GDS Edifact tickets has been a key barrier for TMCs wanting to leverage the benefits of NDC-based distribution,” Accelya said in a release. “In turn, the lack of this functionality has complicated NDC adoption across the industry.”<\/p>\n