Personalised offers already acceptable

I refer to the article by Kevin Rafferty ("Big Brother of the skies", July 17).迷你倉The New Distribution Capability (NDC) will support airlines making personalised offers to customers who choose to receive them, but that hardly amounts to the "Big Brother in the sky" scenario described by Rafferty. Experience and research show that customers want to be recognised and rewarded for their loyalty; and airlines can already make personalised offers when customers visit airline websites and provide their frequent flyer number, for example. There is no suggestion this is being abused.The merchandising trend towards a-la-carte rather than all-inclusive packages is becoming more common across the travel and tourism sector, and airlines are also adopting it.NDC modernises the air travel distribution standards to accommodate this trend. It will close the information gap between what's available on an airline website and through a travel agent, making it much easier for airline customers to make informed decisions on price, amenities and services.Today customers buying from an airline website have access to all of that airline's fare and scheduling options and can also choose additional options such as priority boarding an文件倉 extra legroom if offered by the airline.Currently such options are rarely available on the systems used by travel agents, because the data exchange standards for these systems predate the internet and cannot provide much more than the base fare and frequency. So the customer or agent has to visit multiple airline websites in order to make comparisons, which is tedious and inefficient.The International Air Transport Association also expects NDC to result in increased competition. Airlines are making enormous investments in their products, such as fully lie-flat seats and luxurious airport lounges. But all the agent or customer sees is a booking code. In an NDC environment, airlines will be able to display and promote their products, just like on their websites.NDC will not change the legal responsibilities airlines, travel agents and system providers have to protect consumers' right to data privacy, and passenger information will not be treated differently than it is today. Customers will always have the option to compare fares and additional services without providing any personal information.Eric Leopold, director, transformation financial and distribution services, International Air Transport Association存倉