At ITB Berlin 2026, James Spalding, Regional Director Flights for Northern Europe and North America at Trip.com Group, and Jimena Boé, Head of Global Online Partners Management at Lufthansa Group, told Breaking Travel News that the future of flight distribution will be shaped by shorter booking windows, better content, stronger collaboration and a sharper focus on customer satisfaction.

James Spalding, Regional Director Flights, Trip.com Group & Jimena Boé, Head of Global Online Partners Management, Lufthansa Group talk to Breaking Travel News at ITB Berlin 2026.

As airlines and online travel platforms look ahead to 2026, both Trip.com Group and Lufthansa Group say the signals they are watching most closely are becoming clearer. For Lufthansa, that means tracking how demand is pacing against the wider market, with a close eye on booking windows, destination trends and growing appetite for premium travel. As Boé put it, the airline group is watching “booking window, destination trends, as well as preferences for comfort when they’re travelling, looking towards higher cabins and premium products.”

From the OTA side, Spalding said the same shift is visible in customer behavior, particularly around how late travelers are now willing to book. “We are also seeing the demand is shortening the booking window,” he said, adding that summer booking windows are falling “from 31 days and even below.” At the same time, he pointed to strong long-haul demand, noting that intercontinental traffic remains a priority as new routes come online.

A major theme in the conversation was that distribution today is no longer simply about reach. For Lufthansa Group, success depends on how well the product is presented, not just where it appears. Boé said: “Scale is not any more a mission, so it’s more a matter of revenue quality, it’s more a matter of display quality.” She added that the focus is on making sure the airline’s enhanced product offering is clearly communicated, from branded fares to cabin upgrades and seat maps. “Our goal is to be excellent in display.”

Spalding agreed, stressing that strong partnerships only work when the technological foundations are in place. “When you’ve got the foundations correct from a technology perspective, you can scale,” he said. From there, the opportunity is to give travelers “the right message… at the right time,” ensuring clarity without clutter. That means aligning airline priorities with platform presentation so that passengers can make informed decisions more quickly and with greater confidence.

That confidence, both executives suggested, increasingly depends on flexibility and transparency. Boé said that what helps customers most is “keeping a peace in mind for the customer” and making sure they have “the best deal and the right decision with all the information at hand.” Spalding echoed that, saying Trip.com wants to make sure customers have choice, but in a way that remains simple: “It’s given the right information at the right time, and then be able to make an informed decision.”

The discussion also highlighted how higher-value travel choices are becoming central to the customer experience. During peak booking periods, Spalding said Trip.com works to match airline campaigns and promotions with what travelers are actually trying to achieve, whether that is a beach getaway or a long-haul international trip. The role of the platform is not only to drive the initial booking, but also to support customers later with upgrades, bags and in-destination products. “Do we have an opportunity to upgrade them, to add a bag on some of the ancillaries onto it?” he said. “When they’re in destination, how are we supporting them at the same time?”

For Lufthansa Group, fare families and branded fares remain a big part of making those choices easier to understand. Boé said the airline has been working extensively on bundling and presenting the right attributes clearly, including when flexibility, seat selection and baggage are included. Spalding said the platform’s role is to make that information comparable and easy to digest, while also showing what differentiates Lufthansa Group from competitors. Rich content is a growing part of that effort. Boé pointed to the way new cabin visuals are now displayed in the Trip.com app, saying: “This is what we call rich content, and it’s great that this has been translated… it really brings it alive.”

Another key takeaway from the interview was that neither company now sees the customer journey as ending at the point of purchase. Spalding said Trip.com looks beyond search and booking to the full trip lifecycle, including the days before departure, airport navigation, in-destination support, and changes or cancellations later on. “We don’t just look about the search and book process, we think about it… from end-to-end,” he said. The goal is to make passengers feel they are getting “a complete experience with Trip.com” that is aligned with what the airline is offering.

Boé said that alignment depends on close coordination behind the scenes so that the traveler experiences one seamless journey, even if multiple systems and partners are involved. “The passengers, they don’t need to know what is happening behind the scenes,” she said. What matters is that notifications, disruption handling and communication arrive through the right channels and at the right time.

When asked what good collaboration looks like in practice, both pointed to a combination of commercial alignment, technical development and servicing automation. Boé said both sides are focused on the necessary development “in terms of servicing, automation,” while Spalding described two parallel priorities: optimizing day-to-day performance and identifying joint sales and promotional opportunities. As a global OTA, he said, Trip.com wants to “complement what your strategy is and bring you the travellers from different markets.”

Looking ahead, both executives see more opportunity across the full customer journey, but especially in customer service, discovery and distribution modernization. Spalding said the focus is on making sure passengers get “the best out of both worlds,” not just in search but throughout the travel experience. Boé added that Lufthansa Group is relying on partners like Trip.com to help communicate new routes and inspire customers with new destinations, citing the newly announced Frankfurt–Kuala Lumpur service as one such example.

By 2026 and 2027, both companies expect great flight distribution to be defined by more automation, more self-service, richer ancillary content and further progress on NDC. Boé said Lufthansa Group is “heading together… on automation, on self-services, for auxiliaries, for the distribution” and is also looking to enable more content and interline content with online partners. For Spalding, however, the ultimate measure will stay the same: “Ultimately the metric of that will be customer satisfaction.”

That, perhaps, was the clearest message to emerge from the interview. In the next phase of airline distribution, scale alone will not be enough. What will matter most is how clearly the product is presented, how smoothly the journey is serviced, and how well airline and platform partners work together to make travel feel simpler, smarter and more connected.