Making It Simple

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is finally moving to deep six its archaic, paper-based passenger booking and ticketing system and replace it with an infrastructure that will vault the industry into the 21st century, reports Montreal editor, Mike Dunbar in this week’s digital edition of Canadian Travel Press.

Once its fledgling One Order initiative is fully implemented, passengers and their travel agents will no longer have to juggle passenger name records, e-ticket numbers and electronic miscellaneous documents.

Now that more and more airlines are jumping on the New Distribution Capability (NDC) bandwagon, the association is embarking on the second leg of its journey to transform the airline ecosystem by simplifying the booking, ticketing and delivery infrastructure, according to Sebastien Touraine, who heads up the One Order program.

At a media day session in Geneva, Touraine explained, “Over the past 50 years, the airline industry created its own electronic commerce with specific jargon like Passenger Name Record to hold the reservation, issue the ticket – originally on paper – to confirm payment and fulfill the reservation.”

In 2008 the industry completed its transition to e-tickets and more recently moved to the Electronic Miscellaneous Document to record the sale of ancillary products and services, he pointed out.

For the full story, check out this week’s digital edition of Canadian Travel Press by clicking here.