With Zeno, TMC partners can offer and service NDC fares

As you’re sure to know, NDC is here. American Airlines has moved 40 percent of its fares out of traditional GDS channels and there’s more to come. AA isn’t alone; United Airlines will remove basic economy fares (domestic U.S and short-haul Latin America) from GDS EDIFACT in September. And Qantas will offer lower fares via its Qantas Distribution Platform from August 29, 2023. These big NDC moves promise to overhaul airline distribution and retailing.

‍

How NDC impacts TMCs

For many in the industry, the potential gains of NDC point to a better future of improved experiences across the air value chain, including TMCs. Here's how:

• NDC will give TMCs a competitive edge. Traditional GDS workflows are cumbersome; TMCs are at the mercy of how each individual airline integrates its content within the GDSs. NDC will change the way agencies integrate with airlines, making it faster and easier to access in real time the same offers and content available through airline direct channels.
• NDC can streamline the booking process. It’s not easy to book air ancillaries with GDS content. You typically end up having to use multiple workflows to book an air ticket and add the ancillaries afterward. NDC will change that by supporting ancillary offers at the point of sale.
• Customers want it. NDC has been in the works since 2012 and corporate travel programs are more than ready for the flexibility, personalization and visibility it promises to deliver.

‍

Zeno supports NDC today

While some providers in the industry have been caught off guard by the NDC changeover, Zeno is ahead of the game.

Right now, NDC fares and related extras can be booked through Zeno via our integration with Travelfusion. Airlines include American Airlines, Qantas, British Airways and more. Serko has also partnered with United Airlines to bring United’s exclusive NDC bundles into Zeno. This integration means both TMCs and individual travelers can book, manage and cancel NDC bookings all in one place.

What the traveler sees in Zeno is the rich content they would typically see via an airline direct website. This detail includes information and images about everything included in the fare, as well as ancillary offers, like extra legroom or preferred seating.

Travelers also have the ability to cancel reservations within Zeno and instantly obtain a refund back to their original payment method (when permitted). They don’t have to call their TMC to make changes to their booking.

And because travelers want the best fare option and aren’t concerned about where that fare comes from, Zeno lets them shop and book both NDC and GDS/EDIFACT fares within a single booking.

A frictionless and efficient NDC future

We’re focused on continuing to improve the ​​customer shopping and post-booking experience as we grow our NDC integrations. At the same time, we want to make it possible for more of our TMC partners to adopt NDC. We’d love to hear about your challenges and what we can do to help. With this information we can continue to make implementing NDC workflows more frictionless and efficient.

Let’s get started.

To discuss NDC and how you can begin offering these fares to your customers, contact us.