V1 Advisory LLC
Independent Airline Retailing Analysis

The shift to modern retailing is not a project. It's a competitive divide.

V1 Advisory publishes independent analysis of airline distribution. NDC, Offer and Order, GDS economics, and the end of legacy distribution, covered weekly and without vendor spin.

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Analysis · Retailing · Distribution

The V1 Airline Retailing Report

The weekly podcast, and the reason this site exists. What is actually happening in airline distribution, without the vendor spin.

Weekly · Every Monday
The V1 Airline Retailing Report

Two to three headlines per episode. A 360-degree read on each one: the bull case, the bear case, and the critical take. No buzzwords. No advocacy. No vendor is paying for the verdict.

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What V1 covers

Independent analysis of airline distribution. Forty years operating inside airlines, GDS platforms, and travel technology, applied to what is actually happening in the market rather than what gets announced.

01
Distribution Economics

Channel cost, GDS incentives, and direct versus indirect yield. Who actually pays for a booking, and what changes when the channel mix moves.

02
NDC and Offer/Order

Adoption measured against what airlines have deployed, not what they have announced. Where hybrid NDC and EDIFACT coexistence holds, and where it breaks.

03
Platforms and Vendors

PSS modernization, booking engines, order management, and the AI layer entering distribution. Vendor claims tested against operating reality.

04
Retailing in Practice

Merchandising, ancillaries, servicing, refunds, and cancellation policy. The parts of retailing that show up after the sale and decide whether any of it works.

Jim Hetzel
Founder, V1 Advisory LLC
TWAI — VP, Product Innovation & Strategy
Cirium — Director, Product Marketing
FlightStats — VP, Business Development
Amadeus — Senior Product & Commercial
Oracle · e-Travel · Rosenbluth

Forty years in travel and aviation. I've worked inside airlines, GDS platforms, travel technology startups, and enterprise software companies. I've sold to airlines, built products for airlines, and spent most of that time on what the shift to NDC and Offer and Order actually means operationally, not in theory.

Most executives have heard the NDC narrative but aren't sure which parts are real, which parts are aspirational, and what is actually being deployed. That gap, between industry narrative and operational reality, is what V1 Advisory covers.

Get in touch.

Corrections, disagreements, and stories worth covering are all welcome. If something in the coverage is wrong, or if there is a move in the market that deserves a closer look, reach out directly.

Company V1 Advisory LLC
Location Metro Detroit, Michigan