WTAAA president, Mike Hatton addressing to the passenger agency conference in Geneva made clear that decision had to be made by the industry as to whether it did or did not want to maintain an…
WTAAA president, Mike Hatton addressing to the passenger agency conference in Geneva made clear that decision had to be made by the industry as to whether it did or did not want to maintain an agency network distribution system.
Mr Hatton stressed that whilst he is the first to admit that major progress was made in resolving issues in Singapore last year, to an extent the question that he posed on that occasion still remains unanswered.
There are a number of issues which still require close attention and some signals that are being sent to the agency community which do not engender a feeling of cooperation and harmony, according to Mr. Hatton.
“There can be no doubt that the major issue facing the distribution system on a global basis is the indiscriminate use of Agency Debit Memos. Having said that, I acknowledge that not all member airlines are at fault and the faults do in fact lie with the minority, but sadly as is always the case the majority gets tarred with the behaviour of the minority,” added Hatton.
Last year progress was made in resolving some of the issues relating to ADM`s but unfortunately there are still a number of carriers who choose to either ignore IATA resolutions concerning these documents, or alternatively have no idea of the existence of the resolution or its interpretation continued Hatton.
Hatton indicated the following situations that occured to travel agents in recent times:
- Airline representatives have asked us agents for a copy of the relevant resolution as they were not in possession of a copy.
- BSP has allowed the processing of ADM`s through the BSP system when the ADM in question is outside of the rule whereby an ADM can only be processed through the BSP if that processing takes place within nine months of the final date of travel.
- Airlines are loathe to provide agents with a copy of their ADM policy. In one country 100 airlines have been asked for a copy of the policy as applied by them in that market and only 15 airlines have responded to the request.
- Information as to the reason for the raising of an ADM is very sparse and on many occasions incomprehensible.
- In at least one country an agent made a mistake in placing 20 in the baggage allowance area instead of two, as the itinerary involved a journey into the United States. The airline in question immediately issued the agent with an ADM for some thousands of dollars based on an average baggage weight per bag and this ADM was issued to the agent weeks before the passenger had even commenced the journey.
- Constant flouting by airlines of IATA composite rules on baggage weights has created great confusion.
- Instances have arisen where credit card transactions have been charged twice by an airline to the consumer`s card and instead of an ACM or credit being issued to cover the error, an ADM was issued to the agent effectively putting in place a third charge.
- Instances have arisen where ADM`s have been submitted to an agent on a duplication basis and monies removed from the agent`s account to cover each of the ADM`s submitted.
- ADM`s have been issued to agents as a result of airline check-in staff at airports and airport ticket counters failing to collect fees or additional charges when the passenger has initiated an en route change direct with the airline in question.
- ADM`s have been issued where there has been a delay between an airline decision to change a fee or charge and the actual implementation of that decision in the GDS. It should be noted that in this particular instance the agency community is very firmly of the view that this is an issue to be determined between the airline and the GDS company. Airlines supply the GDS company with information and agents can only act on that information and particularly where auto ticketing takes place.
- There appears to be a resistance to codifying ADM reasons to achieve more clarity of information.
- There is at least in one country a situation where some airlines have introduced a YQ charge but are refusing to tell the agents what this charge is to cover. As a result the agent cannot tell the consumer what the charge is for and the consumer is refusing to pay the charge. This results in an under collection from the airlines point of view and hence they have issued an ADM to the agent.
The solution that Mr Hatton proposed is the Conference to devolve some of its powers down to a local market level. Then at a local market level a council should be formed equally composed of agents and airlines, with preferably an independent chair. It then should be the responsibility of that council to negotiate and write the rules to cover the operations of airlines and agents in that particular market so that the rules suit the market and the operations of the stakeholders in the market in that location. Obviously rules that were made by the council at a local level could only be implemented upon agreement of the majority of both the airlines and the agents in the council.
“We are continually told both privately and in public announcements that we are an essential part of the global airline program and a key ingredient in the success of the airlines that you represent. The reality is to my mind that actions that have been taken in the recent year in some of the areas that I have outlined here today send a very clear message that in some respects and by some carriers we are not regarded as relevant and nor are we accepted as an integral part of global operations,” said Hatton.
In closing his speech Hatton told to the Conference attendees “I believe that it is the wish of your present distribution system to remain a viable and vibrant part of your operations and of your product distribution. It is in my view now up to you as airline delegates and your association to take the steps necessary to resolve some of the issues that I have outlined here today, and to have the courage to move forward in implementing a decentralised and vastly improved passenger agency program for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
