Company News
How to Access All American Airlines Fares with SAP Concur Solutions
April 3, 2023 Updates
Customers are making different choices when it comes to responding to American Airlines’ removing certain fares from the traditional GDS channel. Some are blocking American content, some are enabling Concur Select Access and/or Concur TripLink, and some are in ‘watch and wait’ mode. We do know the impact on managed travel programs could be significant.
American is providing all of its publicly available fare content in ATPCO beginning in April, but not making some content ticketable. SAP Concur has confirmed with Travelport, Amadeus, and Sabre that American’s modern retailing (NDC) fares will be filtered out from GDS shopping responses through EDIFACT (ATPCO path) by applying ATPCO Category 15 - Sales Restrictions at the time of shopping. Customers that have not enabled American Airlines NDC content via Concur Select Access can expect only American’s ticketable fares will be displayed in Concur Travel via traditional GDS. Customers that have enabled Select Access will be able to shop and book all American Airlines content.
We continue to track GDS progress in connecting to airline NDC APIs. Some still do not yet include important tools that business travelers and travel managers rely on including items such as interlining, code share, Known Traveler Number (KTN, for TSA PreCheck®), the ability to exchange tickets, and key aspects of TMC servicing. This progress remains a key element in the evolution of Concur Travel, where merchandising and retailing concepts will come to life through GDS NDC APIs.
Beyond American Airlines, airline distribution changes will continue to impact our customers’ travel programs. We recently added Hawaiian Airlines’ intra-island fares not part of the GDS, Finnair is available in Concur Select Access, and we are evaluating other airlines that have either announced fare actions or surcharges.
Travelfusion is one of several non-GDS content sources that SAP Concur makes available to customers via our Select Access program. Travelfusion is a registered UK-based company that has partnered with SAP Concur since 2005 to bring content into Concur Travel from suppliers who do not participate in the GDS, or who have limited content in the GDS.
Travelfusion complies with all PCI Security and Data Protection provisions both in the UK and under EU legislation. These fundamental rules are fully incorporated into all Travelfusion customer license agreements and ensure that no personal nor any sensitive or confidential information is shared outside the UK/EU. Travelfusion’s datacenters are all located in the UK and the company has in place processes ensuring that only UK-based staff have access to the datacenters. These policies and processes are independently audited by multiple accredited auditing firms, including Deloitte, on an annual basis, which is done in compliance with GDPR and PCI requirements.
Concur Travel customers can reach out to their Concur Travel client executive or TMC for additional guidance and more information on Concur Select Access or Concur TripLink.
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February 9, 2023
American Airlines recently announced it would start reducing availability of its fares in the traditional GDS channel and have full content available only via its NDC API or direct channels. American also announced agreements with all three GDSs to support its API. American has stated that GDSs would be ‘ready’ to support this API-powered ecosystem by April 2023, and that over 40% of its fares will become exclusively available via its API and direct channels.
With a lot of questions swirling about readiness of the industry, we want to be clear about what this means for Concur Travel customers.
At SAP Concur, we understand the need to push the industry forward and advance the decade-long ‘retailing revolution.’ We built a connection to American’s NDC API through Concur Select Access a year ago and are ready to support customers who need immediate access to content that American removes from the GDS. We have been ahead of the business travel industry in connecting to airline APIs while leveraging the best and only technology available.
The good news is that Concur Travel customers are protected. Customers that need access to American fares that are no longer in the GDS can connect to American’s NDC APIs through Concur Select Access. They will be able to shop, book, select paid or unpaid seats, and pay by credit card - all in Concur Travel with the standard user interface and full support for travel policies. And Concur’s API connection has been enhanced recently to allow TMC (as opposed to airline) ticketing and ARC settlement. TMC ticketing is more attractive to TMCs, and several are moving to connect that way.
Concur TripLink is another solution for companies concerned about losing American content. TripLink customers can shop on American’s website or mobile app, realize their corporate discounts, and capture duty of care data. TripLink is even more noteworthy considering that American was quoted during The Beat Live event as saying: “There may be some special sales from time to time on AA.com that we don’t make available to any travel agencies [unless] they’re NDC-connected.”
The foundation of Concur Travel’s Air evolution is being built using IATA’s NDC schema version 21.3, the newest, best available version for normalization and servicing of content. The schema is backwards compatible to accommodate for all NDC schematics currently being leveraged by airlines around the globe. This will position Concur ahead of the NDC technology curve, we will also be able to support earlier schema versions in use today.
It is important to note that SAP Concur has been tracking GDS progress in connecting to airline NDC APIs and some do not yet include important tools business travelers and travel managers rely on. For example, it appears that key servicing functionality like exchanges may not be included in the initial version.
SAP Concur understands the importance of connecting to airline APIs via the GDS. We are active participants in Sabre NDC testing that began just a few weeks ago, in mid-January 2023. Participation in this analysis is a key element in the evolution of Concur Travel, where merchandising and retailing concepts will come to life with GDS NDC APIs.
The reality today is that even a flawless API delivered in April by the GDSs will take time for us and your TMCs to connect. We can’t realistically predict how long that will take because the APIs are not fully built yet for necessities of corporate travel. How should customers handle possible content gaps?
- Companies need information to evaluate the likely impact disappearing content will have on their programs. Depending on exactly what goes missing, it may not be critical to wait for GDS/NDC technology.
- If a customer needs that content, however, they should discuss Concur Select Access with their TMC or with Concur. Concur Travel has been creating thousands of NDC orders each month in Europe for years and is one of the biggest NDC enablers in corporate travel.
- Another, and maybe simplest interim solution may be to deploy Concur TripLink and have travelers use that to shop AA.com. While it will require some traveler education, no discounts or other content will be missed.
Concur Travel customers can reach out to their Concur Travel client executive or TMC for additional guidance in obtaining American NDC content.
Concur Travel has been ahead of the airline distribution curve for years and offers solutions to customers now. We continue to make significant investments to develop the travel platform of the future across our entire ecosystem and innovate to connect with new content channels today while planning for the inevitable changes of tomorrow.
