ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
AT THE READY Blue Cube Travel has pioneered booking NDC content via its new online tool
EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT NDC. There have been claims from a host of business travel providers that that they are NDC IATA level 1, 2 or 3 certified, or have made their first NDC booking – it can be confusing for corporate customers to say the least. But Blue Cube Travel can genuinely say that it has been NDC-ready since June 2018 when the independent travel management company invested in a progressive new online booking tool. ‘BC Online’ is powered by Atriis, an NDC IATA level 3 certified
Blue Cube went live with British
“WE DECIDED TO LOOK AT ONLINE BOOKING TOOLS THAT WERE NDC-READY SO WE COULD DELIVER THIS NEW CONTENT”
tool, which has superior functionality that enables Blue Cube staff and clients to search and book NDC fares, as well as GDS and third-party content, within one intuitive interface.
Airways NDC fares 10 months ago within BC Online, then Lufthansa Group’s NDC content was added, followed by American Airlines. The TMC is currently one of the first to test booking Air France/KLM NDC content within Atriis. Next in the pipeline will be Air Canada and United Airlines. Rebecca Deadman, commercial director at Blue Cube, explains: “Since June last year we have been able to search and book BA’s NDC fares within our online booking tool – these fares can be anything from £20 to £200 less than the GDS fare, depending on the route. We can also book Lufthansa’s NDC fares as well as pre-paid seat allocation. An NDC icon appears in our fare searches
via BC Online showing the relevant NDC fare – we will compare this fare with the GDS option to check it’s the best value before sending the quote to the client. For other carriers, like American Airlines, there isn’t necessarily a fare difference, but the benefit is that we can book ancillaries.” Blue Cube’s NDC journey
Rebecca Deadman, commercial director
began in October 2017 driven by issues with its previous online booking tool; the need for efficient access to NDC content for a client who frequently travelled with Lufthansa; and an increase in RFP questions on the topic. The TMC began looking at options.
“We began to understand NDC from the airlines’ perspective. It’s not about commercial gain, but about personalising their content better,” continues Deadman. “TMCs hold the key to helping airlines make NDC a reality in the corporate space. Blue Cube’s approach is about providing high-level personal service. We therefore decided to look at online booking tools that were NDC-ready so that we could deliver this new content to our clients sooner rather than later, working with airlines and solutions to simplify the journey for the end user.” The next step will be the ability to amend NDC bookings within Atriis and the TMC is currently piloting this functionality. “Our NDC roadmap is ongoing as there is still development work to be done, but we are definitely ahead of the game, especially for a TMC of Blue Cube’s size,” sums up Deadman.
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bluecubetravel.co.uk ■
sales@bluecubetravel.co.uk ■ 0208 948 8188
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