by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:10 AM ET, Thu July 27, 2023
United Airlines announced that it would remove basic economy
fares for domestic and short-haul international flights from legacy global distribution
system (GDS) channels on September 5.
According to TravelWeekly.com,
United sales executives Doreen Burse and Glenn Hollister revealed that basic
economy fares would only be available through the airline’s official website
and app, as well as New Distribution Capability (NDC)-enabled channels.
The decision was made due to the technological limitations
of legacy GDS channels and their inability to “support a full slate of
ancillary products.” Since travelers purchasing basic economy tickets pay extra
for carry-on and checked luggage, United believes removing them from systems
without ancillary options was a necessary move.
While travel advisors should be aware of the changes, United
officials told Travel Weekly that the carrier has no plans to remove other
content from the legacy GDS systems. Hollister said the airline has “no plans
at this point to do anything beyond basic economy.”
In addition, Burse said there are no plans to cut staff
assigned to supporting travel advisors, as the airline views the relationship
with agents as “incredibly important.”
“We're being really transparent and upfront that we want to
do business together,” Burse told Travel Weekly. “And we're going to continue
to find ways to do that. We'll be transparent. We'll be proactive and we'll be
clear in what we're doing moving forward.”
In April, United announced its NDC is available through Sabre
Corporation’s GDS. Sabre-connected travel buyers, agencies and developer
partners can shop, book and service United’s NDC content through Sabre’s Offer
and Order APIs, the agency point-of-sale tool, Sabre Red 360 and the online
booking tool, GetThere.
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