NDC — A Disrupter or Opportunity for Travel Professionals in 2023

What is NDC and How is it going to Affect Travel Professionals and the Travel Industry as a whole?

Over 25 years ago Delta Airlines capped the commission on tickets written by travel agents and it shocked the entire travel industry. With the exception of Southwest Airlines, all of the other legacy airlines followed Delta to remain “cost effective”. The subsequent commission cuts and eventual elimination of commissions, completely disrupted the retail travel agent business.

Over the following decade thousands of travel agents moved their business into a home-base and abandoned their ARC appointments and brick and mortar storefronts. It spawned entirely new business models and concepts that are quite relevant in today’s world. While everyone thought it was a death sentence to travel agents, just the opposite was true. It opened up so many new opportunities that the home-based travel agents are now a major part of travel distribution.

While the commission caps were imposed for many reasons, the bottom line was technology enabled it to take place with e-tickets and e-documents and direct settlement. The primary reason the airlines capped, cut and eventually eliminated travel agent commissions was to dramatically cut distribution costs. Fast forward 25 plus years and NDC is being driven for the exact same reasons.

You can read the full blog at: https://homebasedtravelagent.com/2023/08/28/ndc-a-disrupter-or-opportunity-for-travel-professionals-in-2023/

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