NDC integration is a headache for many travel advisors. But for those used to inputting cryptic commands via a GDS "green screen" interface, it poses a unique and more vexing challenge.
Inputting travel information manually via a graphical user interface (GUI), which is necessary to make an NDC booking, can tack several minutes onto a single booking. For high-volume GDS users, that can significantly affect workflow.
Enter NDC Butler, a new product from BookingBuilder Technologies that automatically populates graphical forms for NDC bookings within the GDS environment.
"NDC is bringing up a tremendous amount of anxiety today," said Seth Perelman, founder and CEO of BookingBuilder. NDC Butler's goal, he said, is to act as a bridge between traditional Edifact bookings and NDC bookings for seasoned advisors.
According to Travel Weekly's 2023 Travel Industry Survey, 15% of agency air bookings are made via GDS. Many experienced GDS users start a search using a traditional interface and inputting cryptic commands, Perelman has found. They then jump to the GDS's GUI to perform an NDC search, requiring them to re-enter parameters.
"What we're doing is we're capturing all of the information from their previous search and filling out the whole form for them," Perelman said. "Essentially, we are enabling them to use cryptic commands to fill out the NDC form. We're just putting a lot of logic behind that and pulling that data across." What could take a minute or more takes "a couple seconds" with NDC Butler, he said.
For a long time, said Perelman -- whose company has been developing agent-facing software for almost 20 years -- most agents viewed NDC as something that would be addressed "one day."
But that changed when American Airlines shifted its distribution strategy last year, requiring agents to use NDC to book a number of its fares. Additionally, in February, the carrier said that starting July 11 advisors' clients will only earn AAdvantage points on bookings if their agencies are designated as "preferred," meaning that by June 5, 30% of their bookings are made via NDC, a number that must increase to 50% by Oct. 31 and 70% by April 30, 2025.
'Game-changer' for advisors
BookingBuilder Technologies worked closely with Hickory Global Partners to develop NDC Butler. Mark Miller, Hickory's vice president of industry relations, said users are finding the product helpful.
"It's making an uncomfortable step easier in terms of bypassing the graphical user interface and tabbing across and entering things," Miller said. "Just the whole experience -- the fact that it can grab all the information and prepopulate that in the GUI, I think is a game-changer in terms of general acceptance or at least making dipping your toe into the [NDC] water a little easier."
La Jolla, Calif.-based agency Cadence has deployed NDC Butler for more than 50 of its travel advisors. Cadence targeted its "highly efficient legacy Sabre users," who are "remarkably fast" with cryptic commands but less familiar with the GUI environment, said Vanessa Allen, director of marketing and communications.
In a release, Jeff Jarvie, Cadence's manager of business travel technology, said NDC Butler "saves us so much time" and works "like magic."
While there are a number of tools on the market today designed to make booking easier for new advisors, Perelman said he doesn't know of others serving the audience NDC Butler does: "The experienced travel agents who have been doing this a long time and know their job really well."
NDC Butler is free for the first 30 days. After that, it's $7.50 per month, per agent for advisors who use any of BookingBuilder Technologies' other products, or $15 per month, per agent as a standalone product.
More features, especially related to servicing bookings, are forthcoming, Perelman said. He is working with customers on identifying what's most needed.