American Airlines to Collaborate with Booking Giant Expedia

Major U.S airline American Airlines has expanded its preexisting partnership with online travel booking company Expedia to allow more options for customers booking online. 

Expectant travellers are now able to add various perks and luxuries while booking their plane tickets that could previously only be done via American Airlines’ website.  

Sprucing up your online booking 

Expedia Group runs various online travel and holiday based brands such as Hotels.com, Trivago, Vrbo and, of course, Expedia.com. 

American Airlines has announced plans to increase its offerings across Expedia’s website due to its New Distribution Capability (NDC) capabilities – NDC is an XML-based data transmission standard that was introduced by the International Air Transportation Association to improve the way in which the travel industry sells its products. 

Expedia is already the biggest third-party provider of travel-related items such as travel, accommodation, etc. The Texas-based airline has recognised the huge benefit of allowing all Expedia users to access all offers that were previously exclusive to American’s website. 

Customers are able to buy perks such as Main Plus. 

Main Plus allows customers to purchase seats with extra legroom and priority boarding. Previously, customers were only able to choose between different cabins and refund options on American Airlines flights. 

Julie Kyse, the Vice President of Global Air Partnershops for Expedia Group, spoke of the excitement behind the renewed partnership with American Airlines in a statement: 

“We’re excited to bring our travellers the best range of content possible via this NDC capability with American Airlines. Expedia Group is uniquely positioned to be able to offer this because of our scale, in order to better serve the end traveler. This move is a significant milestone in the industry’s general adoption of NDC-enabled connections between suppliers and sellers.”

American Airlines anticipates offering more offers and deals through Expedia in the near future. This partnership will be important going forward for the carrier as a means to boost ancillary revenue. 

American typically tries to use third-party sites like Expedia to reach customers across the globe who may not have the incentive to book directly from American Airlines the same way U.S based customers would. 

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