What does NDC mean for an agency's week?

NDC changes how an airline sells to your agency. Settlement in the US still runs through ARC, so the weekly report stays where it is, and the work around it shifts.

What is NDC, in plain terms?

NDC, short for New Distribution Capability, is a data standard from IATA. It lets an airline send its own offers and extras to agencies in XML, the way it sells on its own website. IATA launched it under Resolution 787 in 2012.

NDC covers the selling. Payment and settlement are a separate step, and in the US that step is still ARC.

Do NDC bookings still settle through ARC?

Yes. Airlines use ARC's Direct Connect program to settle their NDC sales, and agencies see them in IAR and in ARC's agency data file next to GDS sales, in one weekly report.

• American's NDC sales reach IAR the day after issue, listed under the system provider 9413, Farelogix. The void window is the same as a GDS ticket.
• United has settled NDC sales through ARC since 2020, for cash and cards.
• The share keeps growing. In September 2026, NDC made up 21.2 percent of ARC-settled transactions, from 1,264 agencies. In 2023 it grew from 8 to 18 percent.

How do changes and refunds work on NDC bookings?

Voids follow the usual ARC windows. Changes are where NDC differs, and Travelport's servicing notes cover the main points:

• The airline handles schedule changes. Revalidation runs through the carrier in place of the usual GDS entries.
• Changes have limits. American, for example, supports three changes to a ticketed NDC booking.
• The airline's website takes over. A change made on the airline's site moves the booking to the airline, and later changes stop reaching your PNR.

Settlement has sped up too. Since 2023, ARC settles error-free exchanges daily, so refunds and card charges move faster.

What changes in the weekly close?

The report and the deadline stay the same. These checks are new:

1. Rejected sales. IAR gives an R status to any Direct Connect sale it fails to load. A rejected sale is missing from the report until it's fixed.
2. Your mid-office. Travelport notes that NDC data sits in remark lines and needs extracting for your accounting and invoices.
3. Airline ticket stock. NDC tickets carry the airline's own ticket numbers.
4. Card numbers. Since July 2024, IAR shows the card number on Direct Connect sales, so refunds and exchanges reconcile cleanly.

Will NDC mean more or fewer debit memos?

Fewer pricing memos, most likely. ARC lists the end of debit memos on airline-priced sales as a benefit of Direct Connect, since the airline set the price itself. ARC adds that each airline's agreement with the agency still decides when it issues memos.

Memos for booking practice and refunds can still arrive on NDC sales, so the dispute process stays the same.

Which airlines charge more for non-NDC bookings?

Several add a surcharge to bookings made through the older EDIFACT channel, and NDC bookings avoid it. Finnair has added one per direction on GDS EDIFACT tickets in the US since October 2023. Trade press reports that the Lufthansa Group raised its GDS charge again in May 2026.

Policies move often, and in 2024 American returned fare content to the legacy GDSs. Check each airline's agency portal before quoting a client.

What are orders, and what comes next?

An order is one record for everything in a trip, in place of separate tickets and EMDs. ARC launched orders-based settlement, now called ARC Connex Orders, in January 2026 for cash, and added payment cards on October 27, 2026. ARC's reporting agreement now counts an orders transaction as a traffic document.

For most agencies, tickets and IAR stay the daily reality for now. Orders are the direction the industry is heading.

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