American Airlines has removed higher-end fares from the Sabre global distribution system (GDS) platform as part of its new IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) strategy. American removed basic economy – expectedly, and some high-end fares in Sabre that are causing some agencies to book away from American or to at least avoid the carrier’s NDC-supported fares, Brett Snyder, who writes the Cranky Flier blog, said in his analysis. Snyder also detected a pattern where American was withholding its lowest-level economy fare buckets on some routes when NDC tickets are priced below a certain threshold. Snyder said his Sabre-connected agency, Cranky Concierge, is steering clear of American NDC bookings for now due to lack of servicing functionality and encouraging clients to book elsewhere.