The airline transition towards modern retailing is moving forward, as airlines start to adopt the industry-wide technology transformation and move from traditional booking methods like Passenger Name Records (PNRs) to ‘Offers and Orders’.

The first major milestone in this industry-wide transformation was reached earlier, when national carrier Finnair was the first airline to create a native order. 

This milestone signifies, in the future, travellers will be able to buy and manage services covering an entire trip from an airline website using a ‘single Order’ which will make planning, booking, managing and experiencing travel far simpler.

An ‘Order’ acts as a single record of any travel service the passenger has purchased across their entire journey and replaces traditional industry standards like PNRs, Electronic Flight Tickets and Electronic Miscellaneous Documents which tend to be created for each travel service the customer books.

Following this technological transition to Orders, travel companies involved in delivering a trip (e.g. airline, car rental, hotel and destination experiences) will be able to easily refer to and update the order, providing a clear view of the entire journey experience for the first time.

Book and manage an entire trip on one website

The goal of this transition is that, rather than visiting multiple websites, making separate purchases and payments, customers can buy a variety of services directly from an airline website, all stored and managed in one single Order.

This brings the shopping basket concept to the airline industry, making it easier to add or remove services and plan travel.

With all elements of a trip linked together through one digital record, travel companies will be able to collaborate more easily to provide a better experience, overcoming many of the frustrations faced by travellers today.

Make detailed travel arrangements with friends

It will be possible to add multiple trips, on different routes, with different airlines, for different passengers, to the same single Order. 

Multiple payment methods can be associated to an Order, allowing friends and family to split the bill. This innovation will make it far easier for groups to plan complex trips like a wedding or a birthday, where guests arrive from different locations. 

Modifications can be made throughout the journey. If a traveller boards the plane and notices middle aisle economy seat does not look as appealing as the empty window in premium economy, they can upgrade there and then from a mobile.

Fully connected trip will allow pro-active travel rearrangements

As the airline retail transformation gathers pace over the next few years, all providers delivering a trip will be linked through the same digital record.

This means that in case of disruption, if an airline needs to re-accommodate a traveller on a new flight, it can automatically let the taxi company know to re-schedule a transfer, and a hotel to revise your stay.

Boarding passes and confirmation emails replaced by single ‘journey pass’

Rather than carrying multiple paper and digital documents, travellers will rely on a dynamic ‘journey pass’ that replaces boarding passes and confirmation emails.

With the journey pass, the traveller and what they’ve ordered will be easily understood in an instant, as they progress through the journey e.g. airport, car rental or the hotel front desk. 

With the option to link this information to a chosen identifier (e.g. biometrics or a passport), it will no longer be necessary to continually provide proof of who a traveller is documentation of what they have ordered.