[ipdashc]

Interesting, the last one is pretty surprising. I kind of just assumed all airline booking systems (Expedia, Google Flights, Kayak, whatever) all used the same underlying service - maybe SABRE or something, but that's a total shot in the dark. Would love to hear what the difference is, assuming you're comfortable with sharing!

[themagyar]

Can share a bit of background: (TLDR; airlines want to keep more profit so are witholding some fares.)

A system called GDS (Global Distribution System) was built in the 60s as a data transmission standard. Was used by airlines to publish fares (among other things). But it was complicated so aggregators (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) were born to ingest all this published data and make it easily searchable.

When travel went online in the late 90s, Online Travel Agents (OTAs) were using this data, and since then most new OTAs have too. (An example; Expedia's first patent minimized GDS searches per customer request, saving them $$).

But, because OTAs take a cut and airline margins are thin, IATA (group of airlines) came up with a new system called NDS (New Distrubution Standard) in mid 2010s. Since its an XML standard that anyone can consume direct, airlines have been trying to push everyone onto NDC by simply not publishing certain tickets via GDS, requiring OTAs to book X% of tickets via NDC and even removing inventory entirely.

Some examples: American trying to go full NDC recently but getting pushback and Turkish Airlines pulling out of Sabre.

[Y_Y]

Is there a reasonable way for me to consume this data directly? I'd love to be able to pull a big pile of flight prices and mess around with the data, but I'd prefer not to pay big money or have to register as a travel agent or anything.

[themagyar]

Depends on the detail. There are a few simple ones (eg flightlab).

[ipdashc]

Super cool stuff. Thanks for the info.