NDC is designed to address the industry’s distribution limitations and provide access to rich and full air content with a transparent shopping experience, as it allows airlines to sell their fares directly to consumers.

NDC enables TMCs that have technology to aggregate content to transform the way air products are retailed to business travellers.

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A response to the ever-increasing number of travel booking sites and apps, open booking is the practice of allowing travellers to book their travel however they prefer, whether that’s direct with a hotel, airline or rail provider, or via a third party website.

Although open booking provides travellers with the freedom to book their travel using methods they are already comfortable with, its lack of prescription makes it hard to enforce travel policies, as well as compromising duty of care and hindering the accuracy of management information.

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This exercise is designed to simplify and reduce the costs associated with a tender by ruling out travel management companies (TMCs) that don’t fit desired criteria.

Through asking questions based on financials, accreditations, location of office & number of employees, the questionnaire’s purpose is to ascertain a TMC’s financial, operational & commercial capabilities and ultimately, whether they could be a potential supplier.

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An airline ticket reissue is an alteration to an airline journey that requires the issue of an entirely new ticket, usually because a traveller has changed travel date and therefore flight number or price. Tickets can also be reissued for changes to origin, destination or stopovers.

The rules for which tickets need to be reissued, should a traveller want to change travel dates, are set by the relevant airline. Airlines can also charge a fee to make an amendment – details can be found in the ticket’s conditions.

To learn more about airline ticket reissuing, check out our FAQ below:

What’s the difference between reissue and re-validation

Re-validation involves changing your flight in the airline’s system. You will keep your original ticket which can simply be presented at the airport for check in. Even though your itinerary is different, you can continue as normal.

Airline ticket reissuing is when an airline prints an entirely new ticket with your new travel date and flight number. Whether a ticket is re-validated or reissued is entirely up to the airline, however, with a reissue being more costly, it is advisable to check with the airline before making any changes to your itinerary.

Why would you change your flight?

If you are a frequent flyer, it is almost inevitable that you have had to deal with flight change. Even the most meticulously planned trips are subject to change. When this happens, it can seem like everything is totally up in the air, but with good travel management software, you won’t need to spend hours comparing airline’s flight change fees. 

How much does a ticket reissue cost?

The question of how much it costs to change a flight is one that haunts travellers across the world. There is unfortunately no straight answer to this question, as airlines tend to have their own set of rules to determine what you can and cannot do. In general, airlines tend to have a “penalty fee” that can range from £0 all the way up to £400. The higher end is nothing to sneeze at, so it’s important that you do your research before booking.

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These fares tend to be heavily discounted due to the numerous restrictions involved and are generally non-refundable. Typically these fares have to be purchased 2-4 weeks in advance, with a minimum and maximum gap period between the departure dates and they don’t allow any stopovers.

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This involves hotels analysing the current market conditions such as demand in a certain area and time of stay, to price a room accordingly. As this pricing strategy is based on ever changing variables, the price of a room can fluctuate throughout a day.

Best available rates essentially provide consumers with the most appropriate room cost at any given time by predicting the demand for rooms and lowering or raising the price accordingly.

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It’s a credit card which is specifically designed for business travel expenditure. Typically one credit card number is “lodged” with your travel management provider, and it’s to this number that all expenditure is charged.

Whilst they are relatively simple and universally accepted, they can cause issues from a data perspective if your spend is large.

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Booking travel, altering bookings and checking itineraries are popular functions that feature on most mobile travel apps. Although useful to some business travellers, mobile apps can quickly become out of date and so more innovative travel management companies are remedying this by offering fully optimised mobile booking sites to travellers instead. 

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Organisations may set stringent terms and conditions as part of a framework agreement or, alternatively, set boilerplate conditions of the contract which can then be modified under the agreement, as part of a call-off contract.

Call-off contracts are then the legally binding agreement and may comprise of additional information specific to that client, such as contract particulars; the call-off terms and conditions and any special terms and conditions relevant to that client.

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Within air travel, a SOTO ticket means Sold Outside, Ticketed Outside – ie. an airline ticket that has been bought and issued from a country that doesn’t feature in the travel itinerary.

For example, if a UK traveller buys their ticket in the UK but they’re travelling from New York to Los Angeles, that will be a SOTO ticket. With regards to the location of these operations relative to the origin of the traveller, tickets may also be SITI, SITO or SOTI, specifying inside or outside.

To learn more about SOTO tickets, check out our FAQ below:

What is the significance of a SOTO airline ticket?

Your airline ticket being a SOTO, SITO, SOTI or SITI ticket will make a big difference when it comes to fares. Due to special fare construction rules and regulations, tickets sold outside the origin country (SOTO) will incur additional fees. 

What are the main differences between SOTO, SITO, SOTI and SITI?

STI

This is the most common type of ticket, that means Sold In, Ticketed In [the country of origin]

You buy your ticket at Berlin to fly from BER to LHR.

SITO

Sold In, Ticketed Out [of the country of origin]

SOTI

Sold Out, Ticketed In

i.e. a ticket paid for in LAX for a customer in HKG that is issued when the customer checks in at HKG, or picks up the ticket there.

SOTO

Sold Out, Ticketed Out — i.e. an E-Ticket you purchase for someone in another country.

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The abbreviation TNC stands for Transportation Network Companies. This is a new term that describes an increasingly popular method of finding personal travel, fast. TNCs provide users with transportation through an online platform that connects them to drivers that are nearby. Examples of such companies include Uber and Lyft.

This term is relatively new, having only come about in recent years, following the development of relevant online technology. TNCs have been steadily increasing in number due to increased demand, based on the ability to book a taxi via an app and the ability to register a debit card to the account.

To learn more about Transportation Network Companies, check out our FAQ below:

How do TNCs work?

Each travel network company will differ slightly in the services that they offer, but generally, they will all use software to connect users with a driver. In order for this to work, the TNC will recruit a driver that passes the company’s requirements on training, vehicle specifications and background checks. The driver will then download the software (usually a smartphone app) in order to receive pickup requests from the customer.

How do TNCs differ from traditional taxi companies?

The main difference between a traditional taxi company and a TNC is that drivers for transportation network companies will provide their own vehicle that meets the requirements.What’s more, the efficiency of TNCs cannot be understated. Billing can be handled by pre-registered bank cards which makes paying for travel simple. Users of the app will also be kept informed in real time when their car will arrive using GPS Capabilities. It really is a no-brainer when organising business travel.

What are the pros and cons of TNCs?

PROS:

• TNCs often cost less than a traditional taxi service, unless surge pricing is in effect.
• TNC apps are widely accessible and easy to use. They are streamline to make travelling as easy as possible, and they even provide important information such as the driver’s registration number, contact information and the driver’s ETA.
• Customers can pay without needing to present a bank card or cash. Users can simply use a pre-registered card to pay for a journey at the tap of a button.
• Service is just as good as a traditional taxi service due to the ability to rate both drivers and customers after the ride.

CONS:

• Costs of TNCs may be higher at times just to surge pricing. This is most prevalent at peak times and can be avoided by travelling during less busy periods.
• During busy periods, it may be difficult to book a trip at all.

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