NDC servicing that turns an agency's email into a priced, checked order change in minutes
Agency changes resolved in minutes, inside policy, and every refund on the DOT clock.
See one case, screen by screen ↓NDC servicing is the post-booking work an airline does after an agency books through NDC: voluntary changes, involuntary schedule changes and refunds. NDC Servicing Automation brings airline servicing automation to the agency servicing desk: seven AI agents read the agency's ask, apply the fare rule and waiver with the clause cited, price up to three options, have a second agent re-price the change before the order is changed, and run refunds on the DOT clock. A servicing lead decides every exception.
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An agency books a corporate traveler through NDC in seconds; NDC servicing, changing that booking afterwards, is another story. When a traveler needs a new date, a schedule change breaks an itinerary or a refund is due, most corporate agencies still email or phone the airline's agency servicing desk. A servicing agent reads the free-text ask, finds the order by order ID, ticket number or traveler name, then reads the fare rule, the corporate agreement and the waiver bulletin — rules kept in four places. They reprice, write back with options and wait hours for the agency to pick, while prices move.
The risk sits in the details nobody had time to check. A waiver applied past what the bulletin says, a fare difference not collected, a paid seat left behind on the old flight, a schedule change the agency never acknowledged and a traveler who turns up for a flight that left earlier. Refunds run on a federal clock: under the DOT's automatic refund rule, 14 CFR Part 260, when the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and the traveler does not accept the alternative, a card refund is due within 7 business days. NDC post-booking servicing is what holds corporate agencies back from NDC, and every booking left in a legacy GDS channel costs the airline fees.
Estimated split for one agency change worked from the email queue (a 19-hour median in the working solution's sample data), and with the agents.
Seven agents read the ask, apply the waiver, price the options and change the order; a servicing lead decides every exception.
Wednesday, October 14, 10:31 ET. Dana Whitcomb at Harborline Corporate Travel asks Corvane Airways' agency servicing desk to move a corporate traveler whose flight a schedule change has moved. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Marcus opens Today. Of 212 agency requests since midnight, the agents closed 171 inside policy; 12 need a person — 7 approvals, 3 refunds and 2 asks the agents could not match to an order. No refund is late on the DOT clock. Before he arrived, the agents swept schedule change SC-1009-302 across 86 agency orders and refunded 14 orders on a canceled flight, $5,812.60 to the original cards.
Your next decision: “Harborline wants Elena Marsh moved to Friday on a contract fare — the agents recommend approving the waiver.”
Dana writes that the schedule change moved Elena Marsh's Thursday CV 302 Boston–Chicago to 09:40, and asks for Friday instead: in Chicago by noon, same corporate fare, keep the aisle seat. The Request Reader matches order CV7K4Q2M and lists the four asks, each linked to the words it came from. On the servicing desk the agency's message sits on the left, the order on the right and the agents' options between them.
The Request Reader never guesses an order: if none or two match, it drafts a question to the agency.
CV 302 was retimed 2 h 35, over the 60 minutes in waiver WV-2610-BOS. The agent reads the bulletin as written: change fee waived, new travel within 7 days in the same cabin, and the fare difference waived only while the original booking class is available. One click opens the bulletin with the passage it used highlighted.
“Fare difference waived only if the original booking class is available; otherwise the difference is collected.”
The Option Builder reprices Friday: CV 302 at 07:05 with no fare difference, CV 1218 at 09:15 for $48.00 more because class L is sold out, and CV 2204 at 11:50 — flagged because it lands after noon. All three are inside policy, so the Agency Notifier sends them in plain words at 10:33 with no review needed. At 10:39 Dana picks option 2; the Order Changer prepares the change and pauses, because policy §4.2 asks a team lead to confirm a contract fare moved to a new date.
“How they worked it out” replays each step from the record, with what it read.
Under “Why this needs you” the agents recommend approving, with high confidence and four reasons, each cited: the 2 h 35 retime is over the waiver's 60 minutes, Friday is one day from the original date, Fenwick Biolabs' agreement CA-FEN-22 covers travel through March 2027, and the $48.00 is collected as the waiver says. Marcus types a question into the desk and the Option Builder answers with its workings.
Option Builder: “Class L is sold out on CV 1218, so the new fare comes from class K: $402.79 − $358.14 = $44.65, plus $3.35 tax = $48.00.”
Marcus approves with reason code SC-WAIVER-OK and a note for the audit trail: “Retime of 2 h 35 is over the 60-minute threshold; new date within 7 days.” The note stays internal; it does not go to the agency. He could also edit — pick another flight, which asks the agency to confirm first — or reject with a reason.
“On approve the agents have the Checker reprice it, then change the order, collect $48.00, move the seat and tell Harborline — you will see each step.”
CV 1218 is repriced once more and the Checker reprices it independently: $48.00 matches, waiver eligible — nothing is committed until it agrees. Only then does the Order Changer change the order to version 4, collect $48.00 on the card ending 4417 and move the $39.00 paid seat to 9C at no charge, leaving the return untouched. At 10:44 the Agency Notifier tells Harborline what changed and what it cost. Dana replies at 10:47: “Perfect — thank you!”
The Checker can stop a change. It never approves one.
From the Request Reader's match at 10:31:40 to Harborline's acknowledgment at 10:47:10, each step is logged with who did it, the order it touched and the source it used — Marcus's approval and reason code among them. The trail cannot be edited and exports with its sources for Revenue Accounting and ADM disputes.
SC-1009-302 moved CV 302 from 07:05 to 09:40 on Thursdays. The sweep checked all 86 agency orders on October 9 and again at 06:00: connections, the 3-hour significant-change line for refunds, each traveler's seat. 71 are accepted, 11 are waiting for the agency, and 4 need a person — two broken connections at ORD, a group of 4 split across two flights and a lap infant who needs a bassinet seat.
Reminders to agencies that have not acknowledged are drafted for a person to read; nothing goes out until they press Send.
Team leads approved 41 of 41 §4.2 waiver date changes in the last 30 days, none reversed, with a median lead time of 6 minutes. The agents propose letting them complete these alone when the new date is within 3 days, with leads still seeing a weekly sample of 10. Marcus can send it to the administrator; it takes effect only after the administrator and a second approver sign it.
The agents never change a rule themselves — they propose it, with the evidence.
The same agency ask, seen by the four people who carry it — what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents read the ask, apply the waiver, price the options and change the order; a servicing lead decides every exception.
Reads every agency ask from the servicing portal, the inbox and order messages, finds the order by order ID, ticket number or traveler and flight date, and lists what the agency asks and the traveler's constraints, each with the passage it came from.
Applies the fare rule, the corporate agreement and every waiver in force, and says what is allowed, what is waived and what is collected, citing the clause. Answers policy questions with the clause.
Reprices up to three options with the fare and tax difference on each, checks each against the traveler's constraint, connections and seat, and flags any option that misses the traveler's need.
Commits the change once the agency picks, a lead approves when policy needs one and the Checker's reprice agrees: changes the order, collects or refunds the difference and moves paid seats and bags to the new flight.
Decides refund eligibility under 14 CFR Part 260, the fare rule and the 24-hour rule, works out the amount — fare, taxes and fees, paid seat — and refunds to the original form of payment on the DOT clock.
Writes to agencies in plain words — options, confirmations, reminders — through the portal, email or order change notifications, and tracks acknowledgment.
Independently reprices every change and refund before it is final: fare math, waiver eligibility, seat and bag re-association, payment. A disagreement stops the change and goes to a lead with both workings.
Decides every out-of-policy change and large refund, with a reason code. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any request, order, refund, waiver or agency — or tell the agents what to do. Every answer cites its source, and nothing reaches an agency until a person allows it.
Why does the Elena Marsh change need my approval?
Harborline picked option 2, CV 1218 on Friday, $48.00 more. The waiver applies — CV 302 was retimed 2 h 35 and WV-2610-BOS waives the change fee within 7 days. But it moves a corporate contract fare to a new date, and policy §4.2 asks a team lead to confirm that. The agents recommend approving.
How is the $48 worked out?
Class L is sold out on CV 1218, so the new fare comes from class K: $402.79 − $358.14 = $44.65, plus $3.35 tax = $48.00. The waiver only covers the difference when class L is available.
Which refunds are closest to the DOT deadline?
R-48061, Clara Jensen, $286.70 — due October 16, ready and sending today. None is late. The rule: 7 business days to a card, 20 days otherwise.
Can we waive the change fee for snow in Denver?
Yes, for travel October 13–15: WV-2610-DEN waives the change fee and the fare difference for new travel by October 20, same cabin, including Basic Economy. There is no waiver for Chicago.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
What the agents may do alone and when a person decides are settings, reviewed by the team lead, changed with a second approver and logged.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Fare difference that needs a lead | $500 | Any amount · a change needs a second approver and is logged |
| Refund that needs a person | $1,000 | Any amount · partly flown refunds always go to a person |
| Name correction allowed | 3 characters | Any number of characters · same traveler only |
| Group size that needs a lead | 9 travelers | Any group size |
| Reprice before a change if older than | 5 minutes | Any number of minutes · option prices kept for 15 minutes |
| Send options to the agency when every option is inside policy | On | On · Off |
| Refund airline-canceled orders under $1,000 to the original card | On | On · Off |
| Accept a schedule change on the agency's behalf when the agency allows it | Off | On · Off |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (ARC 2025 via Travel Code — NDC refunds average 14 days against 7, not re-checked; GBTA 2025 via Travel Code — 62% of travel managers faced NDC servicing issues, not re-checked; 14 CFR Part 260, in force October 28, 2024 — 7 business days to a card, 20 calendar days otherwise). Corvane Airways, every agency, company and traveler, and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
NDC servicing is the post-booking work an airline does after an agency books through NDC: voluntary changes, involuntary schedule changes and refunds. NDC Servicing Automation brings airline servicing automation to the agency servicing desk: seven AI agents read the agency's ask, apply the fare rule and waiver with the clause cited, price up to three options, have a second agent re-price the change before the order is changed, and run refunds on the DOT clock. A servicing lead decides every exception.
The Request Reader finds the order and the traveler's constraints in the agency's message, the Policy & Waiver Agent says what the fare rule and waiver allow, and the Option Builder prices up to three options with the fare difference on each. When the agency picks, the Checker re-prices the change independently, and only when it agrees does the Order Changer change the order, collect the difference and move the paid seat. On the sample case that took 13 minutes from the ask.
NDC refunds average 14 days against 7 in the legacy channel, by published figures. Under 14 CFR Part 260, when the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and the traveler does not accept the alternative, a card refund is due within 7 business days, 20 calendar days for other forms of payment. The Refund Agent decides eligibility, works out the amount and shows every refund against its due date; on the sample day none of 38 was late.
The agents sweep every agency-held order on a changed flight before the agency asks: connections, the 3-hour significant-change line for refunds and each traveler's seat. They propose a reaccommodation, tell the agency in plain words and track acknowledgment. Orders with a broken connection, a split group or an infant seat go to a person.
The Policy & Waiver Agent applies a waiver only as written in the bulletin and cites the line it used — for example, change fee waived but the fare difference collected when the original booking class is sold out. It never invents a waiver, and the Checker re-checks waiver eligibility on every change.
Yes. Contract fares moved to a new date under a waiver, fare differences over $500, refunds over $1,000 or partly flown, groups of 9 or more and EU 261 compensation go to a servicing lead, who approves, edits or rejects with a reason code. The agents never change a rule; they propose one for the administrator and a second approver to sign.
Only where your settings allow it. Sending options when every option is inside policy, completing in-policy changes, refunding airline-canceled orders under $1,000, correcting names of up to 3 characters and accepting schedule changes on an agency's behalf are each a switch. Thresholds for fare differences, refunds, name corrections and group size are settings; a change needs a second approver and is logged.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your servicing policy, fare rules, corporate agreements, waiver bulletins and a sample of past agency requests — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. In the working solution, the agents worked 300 past requests again before go-live and matched the person's outcome on 96%.
Every memo carries its proof, and every dispute gets a cited reply.
1-min demoAgency Incentive ManagementEvery agency paid exactly what its contract earns, with each excluded sale explained.
1-min demoAirline Group Sales ManagementGroup quotes the same day, priced on the seats they displace, with every deadline watched.
1-min demoWe'll run NDC Servicing Automation on a sample of your own past agency requests, fare rules and waiver bulletins.