Customers can now automatically verify airfares reflect negotiated discounts

Emburse, the largest independent provider of travel and expense software, is giving businesses the ability to optimize their corporate air program savings with a suite of new features that deliver greater insight into air spend and increase flight reshopping options.

Emburse’s Air Contract Audit is the first third-party solution that can import a customer’s airline contracts with 100% accuracy for internal review purposes. It automatically flags any flight booking that doesn’t reflect the terms of their contract. This allows business travel program managers to easily audit all bookings made by their travelers and secure a resolution for cost discrepancies with their airline partners.

While Air Contract Audit ensures the applicability of the negotiated discount, it also identifies the inventories (RBDs) and fare basis codes that travelers are buying. It then flags those that are not applicable for discount, offering customers new on-demand sourcing opportunities. Additionally, Air Contract Audit monitors contract performance and highlights underperforming terms, and the reasons why.

Emburse’s advanced Air Intelligence travel analytics now empower customers to obtain even deeper insights into their global air spend. The newest addition to the analytics platform includes “what if” scenario analysis for alternative airlines for an overall program, or specific routes, and cabin class alternatives. Both new offerings incorporate client and benchmarking data to make it a one-click robust analysis. A customer can now explore what savings – or cost – will be achieved if, for example, they choose to change their travel policy to premium economy from business class on international routes or switch carriers.

Emburse is also adding NDC (New Distribution Capability) into its reshopping and analytics solutions, to support the growing number of organizations that have adopted NDC. Customers will now have the option to enable offering NDC fares as an alternative to GDS-EDIFACT booked fares, to drive even greater savings potential or calculate the savings lost by not having access to NDC at the point of sale.

“With the continuing increase in airfares and airline migration to NDC, it’s more important than ever for organizations to optimize their costs and minimize wasteful spend,” said Steve Reynolds, general manager of Emburse’s travel division. “Corporate airline contracts can be hundreds of pages and are incredibly complex, making it exceedingly difficult for organizations to verify that every ticket complies with negotiated discounts. Our new Air Contract Audit delivers the level of accuracy lacking in previous solutions, so companies can now have total visibility into fare discrepancies.

“We’re also responding to the increased airline industry shift toward NDC and the growing number of our 2,000 customers that have adopted NDC. Introducing NDC fares into our reshopping and analytics solutions drives significant cost savings and insights for our customers who have adopted it or are thinking of adopting. This enables them to see greater savings and stretch travel budgets even further,” added Reynolds.

Emburse’s Air Contract Audit and Air Intelligence solutions are provided by TRIPBAM, which Emburse acquired in 2023.

Please visit https://www.emburse.com/solutions/travel for more information.

About Emburse

Emburse’s expense, travel management, accounts payable, and payments solutions are trusted by more than 12 million professionals, including CFOs and finance teams, travel managers, and business travelers. More than 20,000 organizations in 120 countries, from Global 2000 corporations and small-medium businesses, to public sector agencies and nonprofits, count on us to manage expenses with ease, providing user-friendly tools and personalized support.

Our AI-based automation and mobile-first product approach eliminate manual, time-consuming expense submissions, approval and reconciliation. We deliver efficiency and time savings, increase financial visibility, enhance spend control and compliance, and improve the business travel experience. This empowers our customers and their teams to focus on what matters most in their personal and professional lives.

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