A select group of customers now can shop and book New Distribution Capability content on TripActions for certain United flights. The travel management company plans to make United NDC content available to its full customer base in the coming weeks. A traveler can purchase Wi-Fi, premium seating, United Club access and ancillaries like checked baggage and can upgrade to Economy Plus all either as individual items or bundled into a single fare. They also can access United waivers through TripActions' NDC platform. Negotiated bundles, discounted bundles that United negotiates with corporate travel program clients, also are available through TripActions' direct connect with United. Other carriers will add NDC content to TripActions in the upcoming months, according to the TMC.
TripActions head of product Anique Drumright offered a simple example of what the United NDC content enables: "Previously, if I wanted to book Economy Plus with TripActions, I wouldn't have been able to do that at initial search, where with the rollout of United NDC, I'm immediately able to upgrade to Economy Plus without a separate purchase. It'll show up in my full shelf at immediate search, which is a huge benefit for travelers, especially for road warriors."
The tech-forward TMC's artificial intelligence and machine learning technology can personalize bundles of United NDC offerings to travelers based on their booking history and preferences. "It's really a partnership with United, so we will be creating bundles together and will be creating richer and richer bundles as United's offering and investment in their own NDC evolves," said Anique Drumright. She added, "We're working with them to surface that rich content that they're making available in our platform, but obviously United is driving that road map and what bundles are available when and how."
Earlier this year, TripActions launched its new shopping platform, among the first to use APTCO's Next Generation Storefront standard, displaying flights so bookers can compare them based on what is included and based on service levels. United, along with Delta and American Airlines, participated in the development of that platform. "Back in February, we made a significant investment in our airline infrastructure by releasing the Next Generation Storefront, which allows the entire shelf of an airline to be exposed," said Drumright, "and that will best support the new inventory, the new features enabled by NDC."
Updated June 11, 2019, at 12:25 p.m. Eastern to reflect that United negotiated bundles are available through TripActions.