also called global distribution system · Amadeus/Sabre/Travelport (examples)
The computer networks travel agents and many online agencies use to search and ticket airline inventory.
The GDS is the set of computer networks travel agents and many online agencies use to search airline seats and issue tickets. It does not always show the same thing as an airline's own consumer website; some fares, mistakes and partner award seats live in one channel and not the other. So where you look can change what you can actually book.
You hear about a great partner award or an unusually cheap fare, but it never appears on the airline's own site no matter how you search. It is sitting in the GDS that agencies use, and only booking through that channel would have surfaced it.
Some mistake fares and partner awards appear only in certain channels, not on the airline’s consumer site.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These are the channels a ticket comes through.
Buying direct means from the airline that issues the ticket, either on its own website, its direct website inventory, or its other direct channels.
An OTA is an online travel agency reselling many airlines in one place, and a GDS is the network behind travel agents and many booking sites that lets them search and ticket airline inventory.
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