CASE STUDY
How Bechtel Corporation challenged travel partners to launch a first-of-its-kind NDC pilot programme
A story of innovation through collaboration…
…and making the complex achievable. It all started when David Weaver, Bechtel Corporation’s travel manager, took his travellers’ feedback to heart – why couldn’t their corporate booking experience better reflect a consumer one? David decided to take up the challenge and investigate if New Distribution Capability (NDC) could help fill the gaps in experience.
After finding that his travel management company (TMC) at the time could not meet his expectations, David decided it was time for a detailed technical review process from other TMCs. “It narrowed things down to who was serious enough to go on this path,” David said. “We needed parties with the same goals.”
- Travelfusion was selected as the content aggregator
- SAP Concur as the OBT
- United Airlines as the key airline
- FCM as his new TMC
We’ve done some great things, and there is still more work ahead, but we do want to share what we’ve accomplished, all through the cooperation of partners.
David Weaver, Travel Manager, Bechtel Corporation
It takes a lot of guts and a lot of foresight to realise that the days of working with a single point of sale are gone […] We need pioneers, and we were delighted to work with a partner like David.
- Tom Wilkinson, Director of Distribution & NDC, SAP Concur
Setting goals for the NDC pilot programme
NDC has a lot of potential when it comes to improving the traveller experience, but the difficulties with accessing these fares via traditional distribution channels are also well known.
This required the team to take a pilot approach to integrating NDC into Bechtel’s travel programme. David wanted to start by offering two bundles through United to a controlled group of travellers and bookers:
- Airfare + a checked bag
- Airfare + Wi-Fi.
David was focused not on speed to market. but fit to purpose when he chose these two bundles.
This involved working through the invoicing process – how does United send the ancillaries through to FCM so Bechtel’s finance department can invoice?
The first project phase involved three months of planning, design, and configuration. This included weekly calls to craft a pilot design for online NDC servicing. David and the team decided to start with online-only bookings because servicing NDC fares that way is a bit less complicated.
David also reached out to participants in Bechtel’s travel programme who, in his words, had a “high tolerance for variability.” Everyone he asked to participate said yes. The traveller experience was crucial to David – no one would know more about changes to the travel process than the travellers, since their experience up until this point had been the same.
"I had 100% participation. People said, ‘sign me up, I want to be a part of this.’ This was validation that we were doing the right thing."
David Weaver, Bechtel
"What we wanted was transparency, and we shared this frustration with David. So we worked hard to find a solution for not only him, but for all buyers in our ecosystem.
Anthony Toth, United Airlines
Challenges to address
Every pilot isn’t without its roadblocks, but the team is committed to iterating on this programme to eventually overcome any obstacles.
The team knew that duty of care is a must-have component of any travel programme. There was an attempt to change the duty of care process in the pilot from what Bechtel had been traditionally doing in the EDIFACT environment. At this time, they have set up a “roundabout” process to deliver DOC information to Concur. David admits that this works for now but needs to get better.
When working with Travelfusion, it doesn’t create a passenger name record (PNR) in your GDS, which means it can’t be managed and serviced like a regular GDS booking, and it can’t be reported on as easily. When it came to reporting in the pilot phase, it was a matter of looking at the value “lost” but also looking at the value “gained” from using this kind of data.
From phase one to phase two
Milestones reached in phase one included:
- Purchasing bundles via Travelfusion
- Continuous pricing
- Traveller entitlement recognition
- Duty of care process
- Invoice itemisation
By David’s standards, phase one was a success. So much so that he awarded FCM, United, and SAP Concur each a Bechtel Coin that says “vision, value, and commitments” recognising them as three partners that embody these values.
Phase two
The next steps are focused on testing with Concur and Sabre, to explore truly scalable global solutions, which can encompass additional airlines and markets. But the key challenge is servicing and the technology stack – the training of the agents, and the ability to retrieve tickets with FCM’s PCCs.
The other hurdle is that every airline has a different standard for how they deliver and manage NDC bookings, so what worked for United may not work for other carriers. While the final answers haven’t been found yet, the team is optimistic about the progress the team has made.
David is focused on getting invoicing right – Bechtel has two different travel programmes, one for government travellers and one for non-government travellers. It’s important that the invoicing meets both commercial and government expense requirements.
David was happy to report that all of these items are being managed and investigated by the team. The achievements made in this pilot programme are a testament to the power of productive partnerships and can serve as a beacon for other travel managers who want to challenge what’s possible when it comes to servicing and the traveller experience.
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While great progress had been made and Bechtel’s visions were realised, there’s still some work to go. Read onward for more details on how FCM helped Bechtel’s aspirations become reality as well as what lies ahead.
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