NDC has been in the works for more than a decade. However, it’s still a somewhat foreign concept to many who book travel for work. JTB Business Travel is channeling NDC content to make Travel Arrangers’ and Travelers’ experiences better.

New Distribution Capability (NDC) has been touted as a new solution that will offer more options to Travelers, Travel Arrangers and Travel Managers. It promises to provide more personalization capabilities and better, more personally tailored travel content and pricing.

That doesn’t mean NDC hasn’t come with its challenges. We’ve already discussed many of them in our article on navigating air sales in the NDC era. However, JTB Business Travel has anticipated the switch to NDC for quite some time now, and we’re making the process as easy and seamless as possible.

To help business travelers make the most of this shift and glean the benefits of booking NDC fares while minimizing downsides, JTB Business Travel is enabling NDC content in a few ways. Here’s what you need to know.

What is NDC?

As a quick recap, if you’re still relatively unfamiliar with how NDC works and what it is, you’ll want to check out our previous articles on NDC vs. GDS and their differences. In short, though, NDC is an XML language-based airfare retail initiative. It allows airlines to make personal offers to Travelers using rich visuals based on personal data.

The overall goal is to provide Travel Managers and Travelers with better pricing and more personalization.

How is JTB Incorporating NDC Content Into Its Services?

JTB Business Travel believes that ultimately and despite initial challenges, NDC can offer a better shopping experience for Travelers with more personalized, higher-value content, without compromising your companies requirements related to compliance, safety, and cost control.

Because of this, JTB Business Travel is providing its clients with full NDC content across all sales channels, both online and offline, with a JTB Travel Advisor’s help, for carriers that provide NDC content, such as American Airlines, United Airlines and Lufthansa Group. This ensures you enjoy a range of options when it comes to booking NDC fares. It can also help normalize NDC fares faster, lessening the NDC learning curve. 

How will NDC benefit you?

What are some of the tangible benefits you can expect thanks to JTB Business Travel’s NDC adoption?

Primary benefits include lower fares, fewer surcharges, personalized pricing, add-ons and ancillary booking.

Additionally, NDC enables continuous pricing. We believe continuous pricing could ultimately benefit business travelers, allowing for cheaper fares, particularly when there is limited availability.

If you’re unfamiliar with continuous pricing, you can read up on it in our recent coverage of the complexities of airline continuous pricing. However, you need to know that, essentially, continuous pricing replaces the old-school method of determining airline fares.

In the past, airlines filed their fares in advance. They offered up to 26 fares for each flight, but no more than 26. Now, though, using continuous pricing, airlines can offer an endless range of fares. They can adjust the fares to the right price point based on fare availability, demand, Traveler history and other data points. Then, it offers a fare that will be most attractive to the Traveler or Travel Arranger.

What Can You Expect Right Now?

Of course, as mentioned, NDC and the continuous pricing model are still in their infancy, relatively speaking. The most recent Global Business Travel Association survey found that 55% of travel buyers in North America have not started to implement NDC, compared to just 28% of their counterparts in Asia Pacific. There are many reasons why this is the case, including tech limitations and a learning curve. As a whole, the business travel management ecosystem is increasingly ready for NDC.

So, what’s possible right now, and what can you expect from JTB Business Travel in the months ahead?

JTB Business Travel currently provides an NDC booking experience from airlines that are available to book via Sabre, the global distribution system (GDS) used to aggregate content and fares.

• We currently provide NDC content from American Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada, Hawaiian, Lufthanse Group (except home markets until Q1 2025), LOT Polish, Finnair and Scandinavian Airlines, Etihad, Qatar, Avianca, Singapore Airlines, Malyasia Airlines and Qantas.

• KLM Air France, and British Airways content is expected to be added by December 2024, with Iberia following in Q1 2025.

• NDC content is available through SAPConcur (once migrated to the New Concur Travel), GetThere, Deem, or offline through a JTB Business Travel Advisor.

• Content through Spotnana, a next-generation travel booking platform built with NDC in mind, will be launched soon. More information will be shared in the coming months. In the meantime, contact us for details on how this cloud-based platform can transform your travel program.

• NDC bookings will appear in your Prime reports and analytics and will be monitored for Global Risk Monitoring or queued to your duty-of-care partners, such as Crisis24 or ISOS.

• NDC bookings will also be monitored for Trip Disruption Assistance, with trip alerts sent to travelers who opt-in for this service.

Keep in mind that as NDC technology evolves and maturity differs according to the airline, booking NDC fares may still come with some limitations, such as the inability to book a particular seat. Travelers will be notified of any limitations when booking.

It is worth noting that NDC bookings may not yet be compatible with all travel program technologies, such as MagnaTech, which powers JTB Business Travel’s unused ticket management solution. MagnaTech is expected to be compatible with NDC fares starting later this year.

Need More?

NDC comes with many exciting possibilities, new capabilities and a potentially better travel experience. We are committed to work on your behalf to keep providing seamless experiences where your travelers don’t notice significant differences – only more possibilities.

To stay up to date with all business travel news and trends, be sure to visit the JTB Business Travel blog regularly, where you can read more on NDC, continuous pricing, carbon accounting and other important topics.