Onboard to an airline's direct NDC API and manage credentials

Steps

1. Initiate the NDC onboarding process with the target airline by registering as an NDC aggregator or direct connect through their commercial or tech partnerships team; obtain sandbox credentials and the endpoint URL.
2. Review the airline's NDC implementation profile document which specifies which NDC capabilities (AirShopping, OfferPrice, OrderCreate, OrderRetrieve, OrderChange, OrderCancel) are supported and any deviations from the IATA NDC schema.
3. Implement the OAuth 2.0 or API-key authentication flow specified by the airline; store tokens securely with expiry tracking and implement silent token refresh to avoid mid-session auth failures.
4. Send a test AirShopping request in the airline's sandbox environment and validate the response schema against their NDC profile; pay attention to any airline-specific extensions in the custom namespace.
5. Implement each supported transaction type (search, price, book, retrieve, change, cancel) with full error code mapping from the airline's error catalog to user-friendly messages.
6. Before going live, obtain the airline's approval for production access; many airlines require functional and performance certification tests to be passed before issuing production credentials.