Lufthansa backs sale of plane tickets through third-party digital channels
Lufthansa Group has backed the sale of plane tickets through third party digital channels.
With this, online event agents that want to spare their clients unnecessary effort will now be able to offer suitable Lufthansa flights directly from their websites or apps in combination with the event tickets.
A statement from the company states that, this is made possible by the Lufthansa Open API (API = Application Programming Interface), through which the Lufthansa Group makes standardized data available to developers in a controlled manner.
“As the year begins, the Lufthansa Innovation Hub and the IT team of Lufthansa around CIO Dr. Roland Schütz are setting a milestone: Lufthansa is opening the Open API for direct ticket sales. From now on, developers anywhere – including Nigeria – will be able to use the interface to integrate direct booking links for offers from Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines into their web- and app-based offers. They will be able to increase the appeal of their services by incorporating Lufthansa products and will also receive compensation for the prominent display of Lufthansa products on their websites whenever the API integration generates bookings on lufthansa.com.
“With Open API, the Lufthansa Group is implementing a strategy of open innovation with the purpose of securing access to untapped online marketplaces and expanding ticket sales in future.
Lufthansa is the first airline to upgrade the Open API to a fully-fledged sales channel,” the statement reads.
Heike Birlenbach, Senior Vice President Sales Lufthansa Hub Airlines and Chief Commercial Officer Hub Frankfurt, describes the strategy as follows: “With the introduction of the ability to book via the Lufthansa Open API, we are taking the increasing importance of digital sales platforms into account. More than ever before, today’s travellers expect a user experience from their preferred apps and websites that is as simple as possible,” Heike said.
