Travel technology provider Accelya has implemented the capability to exchange unused American Airlines tickets purchased through legacy global distribution system connections for those issued through New Distribution Capability connections, the company announced.
The capability, which American director of airline retailing technology Anthony Rader said was "developed and placed in the market on short order," lets Accelya capture EDIFACT-issued tickets via American's API and submit the fare information for exchange pricing. Prior to the new initiative, such an exchange required a phone call, he said.
"The temporary solution we had was not ideal, so we like to throw technology at the problem," Rader said.
The capability comes about two months after American pulled as much as 40 percent of its fares from EDIFACT channels, making them accessible only in NDC channels. Difficulty in exchanges has been a key barrier in NDC adoption, and Accelya SVP of product strategy Tye Radcliffe said the capability marks an industry first.
Rader said the capability underwent "extensive internal testing" prior to rollout, and communication of its availability to travel management program partners already has begun.
Radcliffe said Accelya "would love to open up [the capability] to other airline customers," of which Accelya currently counts more than 250. The only requirement is that the airline is NDC-enabled and can provide access to EDIFACT tickets from their host system, according to Accelya.