IATA One Order: How Airlines Are Adopting Retail's Order Management Playbook

Why Airlines Are Finally Copying Amazon's Playbook

Picture this: You buy a camera on Amazon with a memory card, protective case, and extended warranty. Amazon doesn't create four separate order numbers. You don't get separate tracking for each item. When something needs to change, you modify ONE order. Simple.

Now try booking a flight with seat selection, checked bag, priority boarding, and a meal. Welcome to four different systems, four different reference numbers, and four different headaches if anything changes.

Airlines are finally catching up to retail's playbook. It's called IATA One Order, and it's bringing Amazon-style order management to air travel.

What Retail Figured Out That Airlines Didn't

Retailers faced this exact problem years ago. Customers shop across multiple channels such as website, app, physical store and buy multiple items, but they expect ONE unified experience.

The solution? Order Management Systems (OMS) that became the backbone of modern commerce. Real-time inventory visibility across all channels. One source of truth that every team sees. Automated workflows for changes and cancellations. Seamless integration with partners and fulfillment centers.

Airlines, meanwhile, still run on technology from the 1960s. When computers had less processing power than your phone, airlines created separate systems for separate functions because that's all the technology could handle. Those systems are still running today.

The Three-System Problem

Here's what happens when you book a flight:

Passenger Name Record (PNR): Your basic booking details in one system.

E-Ticket: Your right to board the plane in a different system.

Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs): Every add-on baggage, seats, meals, lounge access gets its own separate document in yet another system.

These systems don't talk to each other seamlessly. Want to change your flight? Each system needs manual updating. Flying on a partner airline? Your seat preference often won't transfer because it's trapped in a separate document the partner can't access.

This is the root cause of virtually every booking frustration you've experienced.

Enter One Order: Retail Logic Meets Aviation

One Order replaces PNRs, e-tickets, and EMDs with a single, comprehensive customer record. Everything you purchase whether seat, flight, baggage, meal, lounge access lives in one unified order.

This is exactly how Amazon handles complex orders across multiple fulfillment centers and third-party sellers. The customer sees one order. The systems coordinate behind the scenes.

Here's what changes:

One reference number for everything: Check in with one number. All your services are right there. Travelers will no longer need to juggle between different reference numbers and documents.

Modifications become automatic: Change your flight and your seat assignment, baggage allowance, and meal preference update automatically across all systems. Airlines will be able to make global changes to customers' purchases through automation.

Real-time visibility for everyone: The gate agent, call center, and mobile app all see the same complete information simultaneously. No more "let me transfer you to baggage services."

True partnership benefits: Your priority boarding on American will actually work when you board a British Airways partner flight because both airlines access the same unified order record.

Real Airlines, Real Progress

Air France-KLM has pioneered the transition, partnering with Oliver Wyman to create a blueprint for other carriers. Their key lesson? The full value won't materialize until the entire industry reaches scale, one airline can't deliver seamless interline experiences if partners use legacy systems.

Singapore Airlines ran a successful live pilot with real passengers, testing end-to-end capabilities from shopping to revenue accounting. The 2024 IATA Offers and Orders Forum showed growing momentum amongst participating airlines toward legacy-free implementations.

What This Means for Business Travelers

Simplified self-service: Customers will be able to manage their own bookings on airline apps regardless of where they bought their ticket. Change a flight, add a bag, select a seat, all in one transaction.

Faster problem resolution: When flights get canceled, automated systems handle rebooking instead of agents manually updating each piece of your itinerary.

Better expense reporting: One comprehensive order record instead of piecing together multiple documents.

Enhanced personalization: Like Amazon recommending products based on your history, airlines with modern order management can offer personalized bundles that actually match your travel patterns.

The Challenge: Industry-Wide Coordination

The issue lies with the number of parties involved. This transformation doesn't just affect airline websites it crawls into every detail of the airline business. Airlines must upgrade reservation systems. Travel agencies need new technology. GDS providers must adapt. Airport systems require updates. Ground handlers need integration.

It's a massive coordination effort across the entire aviation ecosystem. The full value of ONE Order will not be realized until the industry migration hits scale.

But the business case is compelling. Airlines eliminate redundant systems and unlock new revenue through better personalization. Travel agents streamline workflows. Customers get the experience they've been demanding.

What to Expect

We're in the early stages of a multi-year transformation. Airlines completing their transitions first will offer noticeably smoother booking and change experiences. Partner benefits will work more reliably as major carrier groups coordinate implementations.

By the end of the decade, booking a flight should feel as intuitive as ordering on Amazon because airlines will finally be using the same order management principles that retail mastered years ago.

The Bottom Line

Aviation has operated with fragmented legacy systems for decades while retail completely transformed customer transaction management. Airlines aren't innovating they're catching up to what Amazon normalized a decade ago.

One Order isn't revolutionary. It's airlines learning from retail's successes and applying proven principles: single customer records, real-time visibility, automated workflows, seamless partner integration.

Customer expectations have been shaped by Amazon, not by airline.com circa 2010. The airlines that embrace this change earliest will deliver experiences that feel normal to anyone who shops online.

For the rest, the question isn't whether they'll adopt One Order. It's whether they'll survive in a market where customers expect Amazon-level convenience from every transaction.