IATA reaffirmed support of its Resolution 787 last weekend at its Annual General Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, while adding clarifications that appeared to be directed at critics of IATA's plan to develop an XML standard for third-party distribution of airline products.
IATA says that the new standard, dubbed the New Distribution Capability (NDC), would improve GDSs ability to display a wider range of airline offerings, such as checked-bag fees, premium economy seats and personalized offers.
Getting a personalized offer requires travelers to submit preferences, but IATA said the NDC also would allow anonymous shopping — the ability for consumers to compare fares and ancillaries without identifying themselves.
Addressing privacy concerns, IATA said that data-privacy laws and regulations would protect consumers regardless of how and where they choose to purchase air travel.
At the IATA meeting, IATA CEO Tony Tyler said, "Nothing in the NDC standard requires passengers to supply personal information to receive an offer. But it does provide the opportunity for customers to identify themselves — if they so choose — to have their loyalty recognized by the airlines."
Also, legacy technology will continue to be supported "while demand for it exists," IATA said.
He added that consumers want "full access" to product information, so they can comparison shop and see the "full value of the offer," and that IATA wants travel agents to be able to offer that to consumers.
"NDC will enable this to happen," he said.
IATA's clarifications assuaged the concerns of GDS vendor Amadeus. Svend Leirvaag, vice president of industry affairs for Amadeus IT Group, said in a blog post that IATA's revised resolution addressed "virtually all of the concerns raised by Amadeus in dialogue with IATA during the last year."
"The new resolution addresses the key issues of backward compatibility, data ownership, the binding nature of Resolution 787 and privacy issues," Leirvaag said.
Open Allies for Airfare Transparency, a group whose members include GDSs and travel agencies, was not as satisfied. Open Allies said IATA should rewrite and resubmit Resolution 787 to the Department of Transportation "so that it is consistent with promises recently adopted at IATA’s Annual General Meeting."
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