BTC and ASTA rip Resolution 787
The Internation Air Transport Association (IATA) is running into flak from the travel industry as it attempts to win approval of a new XML-based electronic data interchange standard and New Distribution Capability (NDC) for airline bookings.
IATA is trying to win approval for Resolution 787 from the U.S. Department of Transportation. But the filing, which is open for public comment for 21 days, is being opposed by the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and the American Society of Travel Agents, who say the NDC would fundamentally alter the way airlines are booked and hurt consumers, corporations, and travel agents.
In a statement released yesterday, the BTC said that "IATA is overreaching in the extreme."
"The most powerful global airlines and alliances have expressly agreed, facilitated by IATA’s offices, on a brazen new worldwide business model for how to price and sell tickets" that will "terminate, by agreement among horizontal competitors, the current transparent model for the pricing of tickets, where fares are published and publicly available for comparison-shopping and purchase – by all consumers on a non-discriminatory basis," BTC said.
"To accomplish this goal, airlines would demand consumers’ personal data and put their privacy, security and mobility at risk."
NDC would require consumers to give up substantial personal information—including name, age, nationality, contact details, frequent flyer numbers, whether the purpose of the trip is business or leisure, prior shopping, purchase and travel history and marital status—before being provided offers by airlines, with the aim of charging business travelers more than leisure travelers, BTC said.
"Airline CEOs, who may not have been fully informed of the nature and extent of NDC’s antitrust, data-privacy, corporate customer and public relations complications, may want to investigate their organizations’ due diligence and involvement with this reckless scheme and reconsider the irrevocable negative consequences that would surely rain down on their firms should this initiative continue to be pursued by their trade group," it added.
Cheryl
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
France prepares for a massive strike across all transports on September 18
Turkish tourism stalls due to soaring prices for accommodation and food
CCS Insight: eSIMs ready to take the travel world by storm
Germany new European Entry/Exit System limited to a single airport on October 12, 2025
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt