Which airlines are available through NDC?

The airlines directory lists every direct-connected carrier and marks each as NDC or LCC. New airline NDC direct pipes are announced in the monthly developer changelog.

Do we need our own NDC onboarding with each airline?

No. FlightOTA holds the airline connections. You certify your integration once, on our sandbox, with the go-live checklist, and your live key is switched on when it checks out.

How do NDC fare families appear in the API?

With fares set to branded, each fare family is its own offer with the same itinerary_key. brand is null for unbranded fares; brand.attributes lists inclusions, as objects or plain text lines depending on the airline, so accept both.

Can customers pick seats, bags and meals?

Yes, where the airline sells them. GET /flights/offers/{offer_id}/extras returns what is on sale for the offer, with the passenger fields the airline needs, and paid extras are taken from your deposit.

What happens if the airline changes the price?

Prices are checked with the airline when you price or book the offer. A changed price comes back with the new total, and the booking goes ahead only once the new price is accepted.

How do we identify an NDC booking with the airline?

Use airline_reference: on an NDC booking it is the airline's order reference, which is its record locator. Until the airline returns one it reads "NDC".

NDC INTEGRATIONAirline direct connects, one JSON shape

NDC API Integration

Sell airline NDC content, fare families, continuous pricing and the extras airlines keep for their direct channel, through the same flight API you use for everything else. FlightOTA runs the direct connects; you integrate once.

Fares: Every fare familyOrder reference: airline_referenceExtras: Seats, bags, mealsOffers bookable: 15 min

Request a demo Flights API guide →

What it is

New Distribution Capability, without a connection per airline

NDC is the IATA standard airlines use to distribute offers directly, outside the traditional GDS message set. Through it airlines publish what a filed fare cannot carry: branded fare families with their attributes, continuous pricing, and seats, bags and meals priced for the offer in front of you. Each airline runs its own NDC API, with its own onboarding and its own quirks.

FlightOTA integrates those direct connects so you do not have to. Every NDC airline we carry answers the same POST /flights/search as the GDS and low-cost sources, and its offers come back in one JSON shape: fare families as separate offers grouped by itinerary_key, brand attributes, baggage per segment and the conditions the airline filed. The directory of direct-connected carriers lists which airlines are live.

An NDC booking carries airline_reference, the airline's order reference and record locator, so your team can service it with the airline when needed, while voids, refunds and reissues run through the API.

How it works

From an NDC offer to an airline order

One booking flow covers every source; this is what to expect when the offer comes from an NDC direct connect.

01
Search with branded fares
Set fares to branded and every fare family comes back as its own offer. Group offers by itinerary_key to show one row per itinerary with Saver, Classic and Flex behind it.
02
Read what the airline includes
brand.attributes lists what each family includes, and GET /flights/offers/{offer_id}/extras returns the seats, bags and meals the airline sells for that offer.
03
Book and issue
Most NDC fares are held first and issued from your deposit before hold_expires_at. Fares marked instant_ticket are paid and ticketed in the booking call itself.
04
Service through the order
The booking carries airline_reference, the airline's order reference. Void, refund and reissue requests go through the API, and our desk handles the ones the airline does not answer by itself.

Capabilities

What the NDC integration covers

The direct connects are ours to run and maintain; your integration sees one API.

Airline direct connects answered by the same search as GDS and LCC sources
Branded fare families as separate offers, grouped by itinerary_key
brand.attributes describing what each fare family includes
Seats, bags and meals priced for the offer, where the airline sells them
airline_reference: the airline's order reference on every NDC booking
Fare rules and conditions as the airline filed them, read before you book
Hold-then-issue and instant-ticket fares handled by the same booking call
Void, refund and reissue requests, with our desk behind the API

FAQ

NDC integration questions

Related integrations and APIs

GDS API integration LCC API integration Airlines directory Flights API Flight booking portal

NDC integration

Bring airline direct connects into your booking flow

Show us how you sell flights today and we will map NDC fare families, extras and order servicing onto your product.

Request a demo Browse the airlines directory