Airlines are increasingly moving lower-priced fares off GDS channels and making them available only through NDC, creating additional work for agents trying to find and compare the most affordable options for clients.
Lufthansa recently removed its NC fare brand from traditional GDS channels for tickets sold from all Points of Sale, with a Point of Commencement in Namibia. The fares are only available through NDC solutions and Lufthansa Group’s websites.
Desire De Waal, Founder of Desire Travel, said the move was part of a wider shift in airline distribution. “I don’t believe Lufthansa’s decision is an isolated case. It’s consistent with the global trend of airlines shifting towards NDC to reduce distribution costs, gain greater control over their product and offer more personalised content.”
According to Yumna Kharodia from Sweet Life Travel, other airlines have been doing it for some time as well. “Their cheapest booking classes have been removed from the GDS and are now only available on NDC. Airlines are trying to get agents to use NDC and trying to shift away from GDSs,” said Kharodia.
Sharika Maniram-Daintree, Sales and Marketing Manager of XL Sandown Travel, said although GDSs remained central to agencies, they no longer showed the full range of airline content.
“Selected fare brands are being limited in traditional GDS channels while remaining available through NDC or direct airline platforms. The shift is often subtle rather than sweeping, but agents must work harder to confirm whether the fare they see is the best available option.”
She said while some cases might be system errors rather than deliberate restrictions, the spread of content across multiple channels made it harder to distinguish between a genuine restriction, a display issue and a missing fare.
Price comparisons
As airlines distribute more content through other platforms, it creates a price gap between what consumers find online and what agents are able to quote through the GDS.
“If lower fares or specific fare families sit outside the GDS, GDS-only workflows lead to higher quotes, slower comparisons and difficult conversations with travellers who see different prices elsewhere,” said Maniram-Daintree.
She said if only higher fare classes appeared in the GDS, agents would need to search multiple channels before booking. “That adds time, increases manual work and complicates servicing, changes, refunds and reporting.”
Monique Victor, Owner of Victor Voyages, said she looked at both Galileo and NDC to compare fares and quote on the best rate. “It is more time consuming for us and NDC is still not 100% accurate as most airlines have different NDC platforms. If we can only book higher classes on the GDS we will lose business.”
She recently quoted a family of four on Singapore Airlines in which the cheaper K-class fare was available via NDC, but the higher Q-class was only available in the GDS, creating a R2 000 difference per passenger.
“I will personally stick to using GDS as far as possible. If a fare is cheaper on the NDC I will have to use it to give my client the best option, but I do not trust NDC as its platforms have yet to prove to be 100% accurate,” said Victor.
