Travel Policy and New Trends: NDC, Sustainability, and Supplier Direct Booking
In an SAP Concur community AMA recap, Ralph Colunga discussed travel policy and new trends. On New Distribution Capability (NDC), he said Concur offers NDC connections through Travel Fusion to multiple carriers including the Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, and American Airlines, and supports hundreds of low-cost carriers and 42 NDC direct airlines. On sustainability, he noted corporations elevated it to a top-tier focus over the past two years, recommending training so employees understand the impact of individual actions and considering rail instead of flying where available. On supplier direct booking (SDB), he argued the key is not control but transparency, with TripLink feeding direct…
Impact and considerations
For travel managers, NDC and supplier direct booking are reshaping distribution, tools like TripLink can maintain spend visibility and duty of care as direct booking grows, and airline channel surcharges directly affect travel costs.
Key points
- Concur offers NDC connections through Travel Fusion to multiple carriers including the Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, and American Airlines.
- Travel Fusion supports hundreds of low-cost carriers and 42 NDC direct airlines, and enables comparison shopping in the same integrated display as GDS offerings.
- Ralph Colunga said corporations elevated sustainability to a top-tier focus over the past two years, recommending training so employees understand the impact of individual actions and considering rail instead of flying where available.
- On supplier direct booking, he argued the key is not control but transparency, with TripLink feeding direct bookings back into Concur for visibility and duty of care.
- He noted some airlines charge an extra $15 to $20 per booking for non-website channels, while booking on the airline site through TripLink partners avoids that fee.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- SAP Concur
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 11 Aug 2022, 17:35
- Page published
- 14 Aug 2026, 08:30
- Last updated
- 11 Aug 2022, 17:35
- Original links
- SAP Concur Blog：AMA Recap: Travel Policies and New Travel Trends (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 11 Aug 2022, 17:35