generated: '2026-07-28'
method: searched
source: |
  Qantas Agency Connect NDC documentation — no OpenAPI or NDC schema is published,
  so nothing here is derived from a machine-readable contract. Every convention
  below is stated in prose on a public Qantas page and is cited inline.
docs:
- https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/ndc/what-is-ndc
- https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/ndc/help-support/glossary
- https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/policies/fares-and-ticketing/ndc-booking-time-limits
- https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/policies/agent-information/ndc-shopping-policy
- https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/ndc/distribution-platform-portal/language-reference-guide
caveat: |
  The Qantas Distribution Platform NDC XML API has no published endpoint, no NDC
  schema version, no message catalogue and no specification. A technology partner
  learns the wire contract only after signing a Qantas Distribution Platform Access
  Agreement. What follows is the semantic contract Qantas publishes in prose: the
  message family, the shopping qualifiers, the order/ticketing time-limit model and
  the fair-use rules. It is deliberately incomplete because the source is.
protocol:
  style: XML messaging
  standard: IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC)
  schema_version_published: false
  transport: HTTPS (implied; not documented)
  note: Qantas states QDP "utilises IATA's New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard,
    and Application Program Interface (API) technology" and is "designed to allow
    Technology Partners to develop a connection to our NDC XML API".
authentication:
  documented: false
  model: bilateral — credentials are issued after a signed Qantas Distribution Platform
    Access Agreement grants test-environment access
  portal_alternative: The QDP portal (powered by Accelya NDC SPRK) issues per-consultant
    access credentials with two-factor authentication; the portal is a web UI, not
    an API.
  docs: https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/ndc/distribution-platform-portal/knowledge-centre/access-credentials-and-password-management
idempotency:
  supported: unknown
  documented: false
  note: |
    No idempotency key, retry semantics or duplicate-request contract is published.
    Qantas does address duplicates commercially rather than protocol-wise: the NDC
    Shopping Policy names "Duplicate Requests — multiple submissions for the same
    customer across different platforms or pseudo city codes (PCCs)" as excessive
    shopping, and a separate duplicate-booking process exists in policy. That is a
    compliance rule, not an idempotency contract, and no Idempotency pointer is
    emitted for this provider.
pagination:
  documented: false
  note: Shopping responses are offer sets shaped by qualifiers rather than paged
    collections; no pagination contract is published.
shopping_qualifiers:
  note: Published in the Qantas NDC glossary as the way an agent refines a Shopping
    or Reshopping request.
  qualifiers:
  - Frequent Flyer Number (FFN)
  - ABN / QBR or corporate account codes
  - Preferred arrival/departure time
  - Cabin and service class
  - Direct or non-stop flight preference
  - Maximum connections
  - Specific transfer points
  - BestPrice filter
  - Calendar-based offers
  - Ticketing time limit (TTL)
  pricing_modes:
  - Auto pricing — fares, commissions and fees calculated from search criteria and
    qualifiers
  - Brand-based pricing — lowest price in each fare family per cabin per flight
  - Itinerary-based pricing — lowest price per flight (return and multi-city only)
  - Mini fare rules — summarised fare rules filed per fare
time_limits:
  docs: https://agencyconnect.qantas.com/en-au/policies/fares-and-ticketing/ndc-booking-time-limits
  ticketing_time_limit:
    name: Ticketing Time Limit (TTL)
    semantics: Applies to every Qantas NDC order and is identified at pricing. The
      ticket must be issued on or before this date or Qantas automatically cancels
      the order. Once the TTL has expired the order is no longer accessible and a
      new order must be created.
    set_by: Qantas, automatically, based on the selected offer
  price_guarantee:
    name: Price Guarantee Ticketing Time Limit (PGTTL)
    semantics: Fare, taxes and surcharges are guaranteed in a Qantas NDC order up to
      the PGTTL, which is always earlier than or equal to the TTL. The order should
      not be repriced before the PGTTL; after it passes, an attempt to issue the
      ticket returns a warning message and the order must be repriced by the selling
      agent (not the ticketing agent), with the new price overriding the original.
    max_duration: up to 5 days
    edifact_parity: false
    note: Qantas markets PGTTL as "Not available in EDIFACT".
identifiers:
  order_id:
    name: NDC Order ID
    scope: platform
    note: An NDC-standard construct, but issued by and resolvable only within QDP.
      Qantas support asks for "the Order ID or PNR".
  pnr:
    name: PNR record locator
    scope: industry
  emd:
    name: Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) number
    scope: industry
    note: Issued for ancillaries; Qantas markets instant EMD issuance via NDC.
  airline_code:
    name: QF
    scope: industry (IATA)
  agency_accreditation:
    name: IATA / ARC / TIDS / VTC number
    scope: industry
  pcc:
    name: Pseudo City Code
    scope: industry
  ffn:
    name: Qantas Frequent Flyer number
    scope: platform
  corporate_account:
    name: ABN / QBR corporate account code
    scope: platform
    note: Qantas Business Rewards keys; no meaning outside Qantas.
  country_codes: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, per the QDP portal language reference guide
errors:
  envelope_documented: false
  catalogue_published: false
  note: |
    No error catalogue, problem-details format or status-code table is published.
    The nearest published surfaces are (a) the Agency Debit Memo (ADM) policy, which
    is a financial dispute instrument rather than an API error class, and (b) a
    "Known Issues" list that sits behind the Agency Connect login. Qantas markets
    NDC automation as reducing ADM risk.
rate_limiting:
  artifact: rate-limits/qantas-rate-limits.yml
  summary: 'Fair use is expressed as a Look-to-Book ratio, maximum 2500:1 per agency,
    with offer limitation, request throttling and access restriction as remedies.'
versioning:
  api_versioning_documented: false
  capability_listing:
    url: https://www.qantas.com/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:00230b0b-8c1e-4da6-8261-787185e22a1b/original/as/qdp-capability-listing-tool.pdf
    version: '5.3'
    updated: '2026-07-10'
    note: |
      The Capability Listing Tool is the only versioned, dated artifact Qantas
      publishes about the NDC surface. It is a per-capability matrix comparing
      EDIFACT, the Qantas NDC API, the QDP portal and each Certified Technology
      Partner, using four states — capability available, superior to EDIFACT,
      not available, coming soon — across itineraries, passengers, pricing, fees
      and surcharges, ancillaries, ticketing and servicing. It is a capability
      matrix, not a contract: no operations, messages or schemas are named.
cross_references:
  rate_limits: rate-limits/qantas-rate-limits.yml
  plans: plans/qantas-plans.yml
  lifecycle: lifecycle/qantas-lifecycle.yml
  conformance: conformance/qantas-conformance.yml