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BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, DC

Supplemental Comments On Application For

Approval Of An Agreement (resolution 787) By The International Air 

Transport Association

Docket No. OST-2013-0048

Business Travel Coalition 

June 11, 2013

Resolution 787 Should Be Withdrawn From DOT, Redrafted & 

Resubmitted 

Bowing to pressure from travel industry stakeholders regarding its Resolution 

787, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on June 3, 2013, during 

its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Cape Town, adopted a Resolution (link at 

bottom) related to its New Distribution Capability (NDC) proposal. The ostensible 

purpose of the AGM statement is to mollify growing concerns about the purpose 

and intended effects of the trade group’s new worldwide business model, as set 

forth in Resolution 787 for the pricing and sale of airline tickets.

It is indeed a welcome first step that IATA has acknowledged, through its AGM 

statement, the problems that it has caused itself and the industry by excluding 

virtually all stakeholders as it developed its NDC strategy behind closed doors, 

and then chose to communicate with the industry and regulators in opaque and 

shifting terms. As a statement of aspirations or principles, the new action by AGM 

is positive; however, given what’s at risk for all stakeholders we must be guided 

by the Russian proverb Doveryai no Proveryai, Trust but Verify!

Reliance on the broad statement by the AGM of general and good intentions 

would be especially ill advised since IATA has already made clear that 

assurances by the AGM have done nothing to change the wording of Resolution 
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787. As the June 5, 2013 Open Allies for Airfare Transparency (Open Allies) 

Answer (link at bottom) to the new Resolution to the U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT) pointed out, fresh IATA assurances cannot be reconciled 

with the explicit language of Resolution 787 and IATA has since declared that the 

troubling text of Resolution remains unmodified.

Specifically, a June 6, 2013 article in The Beat reported:

An IATA spokesperson said the new resolution does not change the text of the 

original Resolution 787, which is the 'foundation standard' for NDC. 

In short, the general assurances by the AGM have now been revealed by IATA 

itself as meaningless unless transformed into definitive and enforceable 

modifications to Resolution 787.

IATA’s Obliquely Worded Promises Must Be Made Definitively Clear and 

Enforceable

As Open Allies makes clear in its June 5, 2013 supplemental filing to DOT, 

IATA’s set of assurances is obliquely worded in ways that do not rule out the 

possibility that the current wide range of published fares would be abolished 

along with anonymous shopping. Indeed, many travel industry participants are 

spending considerable time endeavoring to parse IATA’s new and Delphic 

communications.

While Open Allies provided a detailed analysis to DOT concerning the new 

statement by the AGM, let’s review five IATA assurances in a June 4, 2013 

Travel Weekly (UK) article, “Airlines ignore trade opposition and endorse NDC,” 

quoting the trade association’s director general Tony Tyler.

1-IATA STATES:

Nothing in the NDC standard requires passengers to supply personal information 
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to receive an offer.

BTC OBSERVES: Yes, but IATA stops short and does not guarantee that such 

an “offer” would not be a rack rate, or in IATA’s terms, “vanilla pricing,” the 

equivalent of a price on the back of a hotel guestroom door that is so high no one 

ever pays it.

The IATA Statement consumers, travel managers and travel agencies are 

looking for is:

IATA guarantees that all the options in a market would be returned, not just the 

ones that NDC airlines want consumers to see; moreover, consumers would not 

be penalized with higher fares for not surrendering any or all of the intrusive 

personal details that carriers have agreed among themselves they have the right 

to demand from consumers under the express terms of Section 3.1.1 of 

Resolution 787.

2-IATA STATES: 

And, NDC will not eliminate comparison shopping.

BTC OBSERVES: Yes, but IATA stops short and does not guarantee that all 

available fares in a market would be able to be comparison-shopped. IATA’s 

statement can be technically true if NDC airlines just send consumers the limited 

offers or bundles to compare as opposed to the current broad universe of publicly 

available fares any consumer can presently shop and buy.

The IATA Statement consumers, travel managers and travel agencies are 

looking for is:

IATA guarantees that all fare offerings would continue to be publicly published for 

anonymous comparison-shopping purposes and that NDC participating carriers 
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would be channel-neutral and not discriminate against consumers when using a 

travel agency.

3-IATA STATES:

And it [NDC] will enable passengers to compare the base fare as well as the cost 

of all the options that are available.

BTC OBSERVES: Yes, but IATA stops short and does not guarantee that all 

base fares in NDC and non-NDC markets would be available for comparisonshopping. IATA’s statement can be technically true if NDC airlines return only the 

limited bundles that they want the consumer to see and break out the base fare 

from the “enhanced content.”

The IATA Statement consumers, travel managers and travel agencies are 

looking for is:

IATA guarantees that all base fares and “enhanced content,” or ancillary services, 

would continue to be made available by carriers adopting NDC for any market for 

anonymous comparison shopping by any and all consumers.

4-IATA STATES:

IATA said it would continue to support the existing ‘legacy standard’ while 

demand for it exists.

BTC OBSERVES: Yes, but IATA stops short and does not guarantee that it 

would require interoperability between the current system of publicly published 

fares and the proposed NDC system.

The IATA Statement consumers, travel managers and travel agencies are 

looking for is:
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IATA guarantees that the current system, NDC and its enabling messaging 

technologies would be interoperable for so long as consumers, travel managers 

and travel agencies support demand for the current system.

5-TRAVEL WEEKLY UK REPORTS:

IATA members confirmed that airlines and other industry players will be free to 

decide whether or not to adopt NDC to support some or all of their distribution 

needs.

BTC OBSERVES: Yes, but IATA stops short and does not guarantee that if 

airlines choose to distribute “enhanced content” though multiple channels (the 

buzz words used in the preamble of Resolution 787 to define its scope) they 

would be free to reject Resolution 787 and to do so within the current system for 

distribution. And just as important, IATA does not guarantee that other industry 

players would not under any circumstances be obligated to support NDC in 

whole or in part. On its face, Resolution 787 makes clear that if an airline seeks 

to distribute “enhanced content” it and system providers (that is a Global 

Distribution System or “GDS”) “shall” do so according the business processes 

that comprise NDC.

The IATA Statement consumers, travel managers and travel agencies are 

looking for is:

IATA guarantees that its member airlines would be free to distribute their 

“enhanced content” and any other products and services through any distribution 

system or within any business model construct that they choose and that other 

industry players would not under any circumstances be required to follow the 

processes adopted by Resolution 787.

Resolution 787 Should Be Withdrawn From DOT, Redrafted & Resubmitted

The conundrum that IATA has created for itself in seeking to appease critics of 

Resolution 787, through a broadly worded new AGM statement of intentions, is 
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that there is now more confusion about exactly how NDC would be implemented. 

And there are no assurances being offered to the travel industry to translate any 

of the AGM’s statements of good intentions into enforceable commitments to 

other stakeholders. The general statements by the AGM cannot in any way 

whatsoever be reconciled with the detailed description of NDC in Resolution 787.

Compounding the problem is that the AGM did not fashion the new Resolution as 

an amendment to Resolution 787. Moreover, it’s not even clear if the AGM has 

the authority to do so as it was IATA’s Passenger Services Conference that 

adopted binding Resolution 787. And lastly, IATA’s declaration to The Beat that 

the AGM’s statements do nothing to change the text of Resolution 787 removes 

any doubt that reliance on the general assurances of the AGM to protect 

consumers and other stakeholders would be most unwise.

Nevertheless, if IATA is genuine in its efforts to clarify its NDC proposal it should 

withdraw its application before DOT; amend Resolution 787 to include the 

principles embedded in the new statements by the AGM, with more specificity 

and guarantees, and after sufficient stakeholder consultations; and resubmit it to 

DOT for its consideration. Only then would there be needed visibility to what 

IATA is actually seeking DOT approval for and an understanding of the potential 

positive and negative impacts on consumer choice, airline competition and 

personal data privacy. If IATA intends to point to the new broad statements of 

intent of the AGM to add support to its pending application at DOT, then it must 

incorporate them in Resolution 787 in a way that is unequivocal and that is 

enforceable by other industry participants.

Should IATA be unwilling to be anything other than 100% straightforward 

regarding the purpose and intended effects of NDC, and should it be adverse to 

guaranteeing exactly how NDC would operate, then DOT must simply reject its 

application. No matter how well intentioned, a feel-good set of general 

assurances, at fundamental odds with Resolution 787, does not strengthen 
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IATA’s case for industry or regulatory support. With so much at stake, IATA, 

industry stakeholders and regulators must get this right. Doveryai no Proveryai!

Access new IATA Resolution at http://btcnews.co/13NujdF

Read Open Allies’ Answer at http://btcnews.co/14Jgdsx

Review analyses of IATA's new business model at http://bit.ly/10hxua2

See curated press stories at http://btcnews.co/16u1swM