Travel, beyond the booking.
Notes from the people building OnArrival: booking systems, hotel mapping, payments, refunds and the decisions behind them.
THE LIBRARY
Architecture, operations and commercial decisions.
For teams shipping and operating travel products.
One travel SDK. Five platforms. The same booking rules.
We moved shared booking rules into a Kotlin Multiplatform core for web, iOS, Android, Flutter and React Native. Each host runs the same checks so prices, dates and decisions agree.
Pawan ShettyCo-Founder and CTO→
Why travel infrastructure has to work after checkout
The comparison with payment infrastructure is useful until a confirmed trip changes. Travel infrastructure also has to manage supplier updates, booking changes, refunds and settlement.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→
AI travel agents need booking permissions and spending limits
An AI agent can find a trip without having permission to buy it. Booking needs separate checks for the approved price, traveller, budget and any repeated request.
Pawan ShettyCo-Founder and CTO→
NDC, GDS and LCC direct: choosing the right mix
The right mix depends on the routes, fares and servicing your customers need. Compare airline content sources without forcing each supplier workflow into your checkout.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→
Travel API architecture needs orders, state and recovery
Supplier adapters handle API calls. A travel platform also needs a shared booking record, permission checks and recovery when a supplier response is late or unclear.
Pawan ShettyCo-Founder and CTO→
Embedded travel for fintechs: connect booking to the rest of the app
A travel feature is more useful when it works with the customer identity, payment method and rewards already in the app. That connection also needs to survive a change or refund.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→
Build vs. buy travel infrastructure: plan beyond launch
A search-and-book estimate leaves out supplier maintenance, booking changes, refunds and support. The build-versus-buy decision needs to include who runs those operations after launch.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→
The NDC capability matrix: what to check before integrating
An NDC label does not tell you which bookings a connection can service. Check shopping, booking, changes, refunds and disruption support for the markets you plan to sell.
Aditi AcharyaProduct→
What to monitor after a travel booking is confirmed
Search latency cannot tell you whether a flight changed or a refund arrived. Post-booking monitoring needs to detect supplier changes, missing updates and delays in telling the traveller.
Manan VaghasiyaPrincipal Engineer→
Travel loyalty points: what redemption really costs
The cost of issuing points is only part of loyalty economics. Travel redemption also depends on supplier prices, the value promised to members and what happens when a booking is cancelled.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→
How we built our hotel and room mapping pipeline
Our mapping pipeline compares supplier records, checks room attributes and sends uncertain matches for review. The key is keeping the evidence behind each decision.
Pranav UpadhyayProduct→
Why a travel cart needs more than one checkout call
Flights, hotels and activities can expire or fail independently during checkout. A travel cart needs price checks, booking recovery and a payment plan for partial success.
Manan VaghasiyaPrincipal Engineer→
What NDC does not fix in your booking product
NDC can improve the airline offers you sell. Your product still needs to handle different carrier capabilities, booking changes, refunds and incomplete responses.
Aditi AcharyaProduct→Travel payments: keep bookings, refunds and settlement connected
A successful payment does not mean every part of a trip is confirmed or settled. Track customer charges, supplier payments and refunds against the booking they belong to.
Manan VaghasiyaPrincipal Engineer→Hotel mapping: why one property appears five times
Different suppliers can list the same hotel under different names. Hotel mapping joins those records while keeping room types, rate conditions and booking references distinct.
Pranav UpadhyayProduct→
Post-booking service: who handles changes and refunds?
A confirmed booking still needs support when a flight changes, a traveller cancels or a refund is delayed. Customers need a clear status, a next step and someone responsible for the outcome.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→The travel order lifecycle: from search to refund settlement
A travel order records the offer, confirmation, booking changes and related payments. Keeping that history together makes partial cancellations and delayed refunds easier to handle.
Manan VaghasiyaPrincipal Engineer→
When should you add travel to your app?
Travel makes sense when it improves a job your customers already do in your app. Before launching, decide who owns booking changes, customer support and refunds.
Ankit SawantCo-Founder and CEO→