Andrea Caulfield-Smith joined the Advantage Travel Partnership in April and has previously held roles with Visa, easyJet, American Express and CWT
As the business travel industry continues to settle around NDC, there is set to be another major shift on the horizon with IATA’s ONE Order – a further large-scale transformation project that will need to be carefully navigated by the travel ecosystem.
It is vital to be aware of the upcoming changes as, whilst there are no timelines associated with it today, this is a multi-dimensional, multi-year project which will involve comprehensive changes within legacy systems.
The development of the ONE Order system is a result of the increased necessity for a more cohesive and traveller-focused approach which has become apparent over recent years. This is due to factors like changing traveller expectations, the demand for a frictionless travel experience throughout each journey, and advancements in technology.
IATA's Modern Retailing strategy currently consists of Offers and Orders, with Offers being the NDC element and Orders being the fulfilment, servicing, delivery, and accounting process related to airline products and services. The two can co-exist, but ONE Order cannot work without the NDC standard being fully implemented. That suggests we will need to already be fully migrated to NDC for the ONE Order framework to operate effectively.
As there is currently no consistent approach among scheduled airlines with regard to NDC, it might be quite some time before we see ONE Order really launching and becoming rmbedded within the industry systems as business as usual.
IATA’s rationale for launching ONE Order is to simplify and modernise order management processes by providing the customer with a single reservation number that contains everything they need to book, change and instigate travel rather than the currently fragmented passenger experience.
This assigned number will facilitate the exchange of information between all parties in the booking flow including air and non-air in a seamless and automatic environment and will replace PNRs, ticket numbers, miscellaneous documents or EMDs, and remove legacy and archaic processes. By establishing a standard for order management that can be adopted across the industry, it will, in theory, facilitate better integration between airlines, travel agencies and other service providers.
ONE Order will run in parallel with NDC meaning there will be benefits noticed across the value chain. Airlines will see reconciliation savings through an auto match of data between booking and payment, whilst corporate travel bookers and travellers could see benefits from an enhanced, streamlined customer experience by having their information consolidated into one record that can be accessed, retrieved and referred to through one order number. This enables a simplified platform for duty of care reporting and data capture of the entire end-to-end reservation for the traveller, as well as improving the change and cancel processes with increased flexibility.
For the TMC and travel agencies, ONE Order intends to simplify and standardise the booking process for reservations across all airlines, which can improve customer service and operating efficiency.
Looking ahead, there remains much more to learn about how ONE Order will be implemented and the timelines associated with it. There will inevitably be challenges to overcome along the way, with widespread system adjustments and technical integration across the entire eco-system needing to occur in order for this to work. At this stage, we do not know what impact ONE Order will have on the travel intermediary systems, or the GDS, which will need further clarification.
The long-term vision for ONE Order is to fully transform the travel industry's order management processes, providing a seamless, efficient and customer-friendly experience from booking to trip completion. Right now, ONE Order is still in its infancy, but it is one to follow closely as we move through the coming months and years with airlines testing the capabilities of the approach. Offers and Orders will transform and continue to advance travel into a modern retailing environment, similar to those of online retail suppliers such as Amazon, but we must take it one step at a time.
I look forward to following the ONE Order journey as it evolves. As we progress with the deployment of NDC and ways to adopt it as a standard, we can begin to look forward to reaping the benefits of ONE Order.