Fare Shopping with NDC Content

Travelport offers the option perform fare shopping using the NDC (New Distribution Capability) standard. NDC was developed by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) to improve communications between airlines and travel sellers. NDC replaces EDIFACT as a standard that supports more robust functionality for current travel models.

The NDC standard includes a concept of offer management and order management:

  • Offer Management refers to airline’s capabilities to distribute their products but also to merchandise additional services like baggage, seat selection, or ancillaries using rich content.

  • Order Management refers to airline capabilities to manage the order from booking, storing, servicing and fulfillment.

Travelport NDC Web Plugin

The Travelport NDC Web Plugin provides access to NDC functionality from Smartpoint. Access to the plugin depends on the version of Smartpoint:

  • In Smartpoint 9.1 and earlier, the NDC Web Plugin was installed as a separate plugin from Travelport Marketplace.

    Please note that this plugin is available for legacy use only, and is no longer available for download on Travelport Marketplace.

    For more information, see Installation Guides for links to installation guides that provide instructions for installing the plugin on Smartpoint 9.1 and earlier.

  • In Smartpoint 10.0 and later, the NDC Web Plugin is installed as part of the main Smartpoint installation, which automatically uninstalls earlier versions of the plugin.

    Tip! For Travelport+ (1G) on Smartpoint 10.0 and later, agencies that are provisioned for NDC fares now display an updated Flight Search functionality that

See Getting Started in the NDC Plugin Help for more information about access and provisioning.

Features and Functionality

NDC content is available for:

  • Travelport+ (1G) with available features that vary by country and carrier. See NDC information in the NDC Plugin Help for details.

  • As of March 21, 2023 for Apollo (1V) for American Airlines with limited functionality. By default, all agencies in North America are enabled for AA NDC content in Smartpoint and with American Airlines. If you are unable to access NDC content, please contact your Travelport account manager. Additional functionality will be added in future releases. See NDC for Apollo and FAQS: Apollo and Worldspan in the NDC Plugin Help for more information.

BSP and ARC settlement is supported for both Travelport+ and Apollo.

Please note that carriers are provisioned separately for NDC content, so only carriers provisioned for your PCC display in the NDC search results.

Accessing from Smartpoint

Provisioned PCCs can access the NDC Web Plugin from Smartpoint Desktop from a fare shopping search. Travelport+ (1G) also supports accessing NDC fares from booked fare results and fare quote (FQ) results.

Tip! The Web Plugin does not display from the grid view in the Classic windows layout. To access the plugin, either exit grid view in Classic windows or change to Flex Windows.

 

From the Search menu, select NDC Flight Shopping Search.

Tip! You can also press ALT+A.

Flex Windows

Classic Windows

From a booked fare result, click the NDC icon.

Flex Windows

Classic Windows

From a fare quote result click the NDC icon.

See Using NDC Plugin within Smartpoint in the NDC Plugin Help for instructions and more information.

Tip! The NDC icon displays only in the PNR Viewer. In Flex Windows, you can change layouts to select a layout that includes the PNR Viewer.

PNR/Booking File

PNR/Booking Files contain contain notification headers to indicate the presence of NDC content, and also to indicate if any changes were made to the NDC content by the airline.

In Smartpoint 11.3, functionality was added to display notifications for Booking Files in queue. Previously, these notifications displayed only for PNR/Booking Files that were outside of queue.

  • If a booking file contains NDC content, a header is displayed:
    * PNR CONTAINS NDC AIR SEGMENTS-SERVICE VIA SMARTPOINT NDC APP *

  • If changes are made to NDC content in a booking file by the airline, an additional notification header is displayed.
    * NDC CONTENT HAS CHANGED - SERVICE VIA NDC WEB PLUGIN

    This header indicates that the booking file is not synchronized with the airline’s data. The booking file must be serviced using the NDC Web Plugin to reflect the airline's changes.

In the following example, the notification headers indicate both the presence of NDC segments and changes to NDC content in a queued PNR/Booking File.

In Smartpoint 11.3, an NDC identifier (/NDC) was added to the ticketing line of the stored fare in a fare response.

More Information

For more detailed information about NDC fares and content, please see: