Booking channels that adopt the evolving Next Generation Storefront standard no longer must use a tiered six-star system for identifying like fares across carriers, according to ATPCO. Since TripActions launched an NGS interface in February, NGS adopters sorted airline products into similar groups, or shelves. Those columns have been stamped with stars. One star is often basic economy and six is usually the highest-quality passenger experience. Now, NGS adopters—which also include AmTrav, Psngr1, TravelBank, Upside and WhereTo—can experiment with words, icons, text or other indicators. They must, however, display the shelf's numerical identifier or some derivative.
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The move from the star system came from ATPCO's NGS working and advisory groups. The advisory group—which includes representatives of CWT, American Express Global Business Travel, BCD Travel and airlines—finalizes recommendations that come from the working group. The working group includes airlines and mega travel management companies, as well as startup TMCs and, as representatives of corporate travel buyer interests, big-name consultancies.
The working group agreed the star ratings provided consistency for comparison but seemed to be communicating quality. NGS isn't trying to indicate that one star is low quality, for example. The working group also knew experimentation likely would produce something better. The advisory group then added the numeral requirement, according to an ATPCO spokesperson. ATPCO director of R&D Gianni Cataldo said, "We have everybody united on moving away from stars. But we didn't want to lose what the underlying thing was—which was a definitive declaration [of consistent comparisons], that like products are here and you will go to another channel and see like products here—but we want to open up the freedom for everybody to be experimental and find the right icons."
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ATPCO had modeled the star concept on the hotel industry, but it didn't work for the airlines, Cataldo said. "It hit brick walls because consumers had an innate concern about being baited and switched." Cataldo believes that after booking channels experiment, a combination of text and icons will emerge as a standard.