In the following paragraphs it is described what GL regards as misuse of Reservations, Ticketing and Integrity Policy.
It is our intension to minimize fraud and misuse by creating an open dialogue with any agency wishing to sell GL products.
In case of non compliance with this policy GL maintains the right to claim reimbursement via Agency Debit Memos (ADM) for any costs and/or loss of revenue due to misuse as defined below.
- Back Date Ticketing - The issuance of a ticket with an indicated date of issuance that is earlier than the actual date of issuance is considered misuse.
- Baggage Allowance - The Agent must follow the Baggage Allowance Rules of GL and secure the allowance is correctly updated in the ticket according to the applicable fare.
- Cancellations - If a customer cancels the reservation the Agent must immediately release the seats to the GL inventory. The Agent may not re-use the cancelled inventory for another customer, even if the other customer desires the identical itinerary; a new PNR must be created. (see also namechange)
- Churning – The Agent must not engage in Churning to circumvent ticketing time limits of the Fare Rules.
- Class of Service - The Agent must not issue a ticket unless the requested class of service is available for sale and confirmation of HK received from GL's reservation system. The class of service booked in the PNR has to correspond to the fare basis issued in the ticket.
- Consolidators/Contractors – When a Consolidator/Contractor chooses to cooperate with any IATA/NON-IATA Agent the Consolidator/Contractor is responsible for inaccurate booking behavior and will receive ADM’s on behalf of the contracted IATA/NON-IATA Agent. Settlement must therefore be agreed to between the two agencies involved. GL will forward any claims to the responsible Agency identified by IATA designator in the PNR.
- Credit Card - The Agent must ensure that the type of card being processed during the sale is accepted for payment by GL. The Agent is responsible for checking the validity of the credit card and to ensure either electronic approval from the card supplier or that the signature of the cardholder is provided.
- Credit Card Charge Back - In case that GL is debited by the credit card acquirer for a fraudulent purchase of a ticket issued by the agent, GL will charge the agent for the cost via an ADM in all instances where the procedures in Travel Agency Handbook has not been applied, or if the sales was a non face-to-face transaction. The same applies in case a travel agent has issued a ticket against payment made with a credit card not accepted by GL.
- Customer Name/ID - Customers' full first and last names are required in all bookings. The use of initials or pseudonyms in lieu of the passenger’s full name will subject the PNR to scrutiny and ultimately cancellation. Additional security information about the customer may be required by government agencies and the Agent should ensure that the PNR satisfies the applicable governmental requirements. Entering fictitious names in PNR’s is considered misuse and can cause cancellation of the PNR and an ADM.
- Duplicate Bookings - The Agent must not create a Duplicate Booking for any reason, or duplicate any reservation booked by another branch or agency or that is stored in another CRS/GDS or GL's reservation system. It is the responsibility of the Agent to determine if the customer already made a booking. Duplicate bookings will be scrutinized, and risk cancellation and/or ADM.
- Fare Audit - All fare rule elements are subject to audit, including correct application of bookingclass, farebasis, ticketing time limit, fuel surcharge, commissions, discounts if applicable, mis-plating, booking classes, baggage allowance, taxes and automated fare-quotes, reissues and manual pricing of ticket.
- Fare Rules - The Agent must adhere to all ticketing and fare rules. GL prohibits, and the Agent is liable for, any booking or ticketing practice that circumvents the applicable Fare Rules. The Agent must issue a valid ticket or cancel the PNR by the applicable Ticket Time Limit. GL reserves the right to use an automatic program to cancel segments when ticketing has not occurred by the applicable Ticket Time Limit, however, the Agent is responsible for adhering to ticketing time limits. Circumventing ticketing and fare rules can cause an ADM.
- Fees - The Agent must collect any fees connected to ticket issuance and/or reissue, including, but limited to name change fee, reissuance, rebooking and/or any other applicable fees.
- Fictitious Name and Other Speculative Bookings - The Agent must refrain from holding GL inventory until a passenger or ticketing opportunity arises. An Agent may use the GDS only when it relates directly to a passengers request or intention to purchase a ticket. Non-exclusive examples of such bookings include the use of a valid surname followed by initials (e.g., Smith/A/B/C, Chen/A/S/D/F, Anderson/X/Y/Z) and fictitious or celebrity names (e.g., Test/My, Mouse/Mickey, Bond/James). PNR’s holding fictitious names are subject to scrutiny and can be cancelled. Entering fictitious names in PNR’s is considered misuse, and can cause cancellation of the PNR and an ADM.
- GDS Segment fees - The GDSs charge The GL for almost all booking activity including, without limitation, sell, passive, cancel, waitlist, inactive and schedule change transactions. The Agent has the responsibility to cancel all unnecessary segments. Neglect of cancelling unwanted seats can cause costs to be debited the Agent via an ADM.
- Group Bookings - Agents must book Group Bookings directly with GL and may create Passive Segments only for the purposes of ticketing. Standard terms and conditions of Passive Segments apply. Agencies may not create multiple PNRs for the purpose of circumventing the Group Booking definition (when reservation for a group is not confirmed, attempting to secure the required service by requesting this in smaller numbers in individual transactions). Violations of the Group Booking policy may result in booking cancellations, and/or assessment of fees or penalties.
- Impossible/Illogical Booking - Includes, but is not limited to, bookings for the same passenger on concurrent flights that fly in the same time period, on or near the same day; multiple bookings for the same passenger between the same origin/destination; duplicate bookings, or bookings with connections that depart before the arrival of the inbound flight. Impossible/Illogical Bookings are considered misuse.
- Inactive Segments - Changes to itinerary segment status resulting in Inactive Segments or un-used seats require action and inactive segments must be removed from the CRS/GDS PNR. This includes cancelling ticketed or un-ticketed segments with a status code of UN, NO, HX, TL, and removing other inactive segments in the PNR with the status codes such as UC, US and DL. In all cases, the Agent is responsible for promptly working queues. Neglect to cancel inactive segments can cause an ADM.
- Interline Ticketing - The Agent must not validate any ticket on GL segments if the ticket contains a flight segment(s) on any other airline unless the other airline has a ticketing and baggage agreement with GL.
- Irregularities – Information about traffic irregularities and relevant policies for rebooking is published on GL homepage. The agent must secure that all employees and/or agency entities act according to the information on GL Sales Information in case of irregularities.
- Itinerary Changes - When a reservation is affected by a schedule change, flight firming, and flight cancellation. GL sends notification directly to the Agent’s GDS queue. This notification communicates the change and directs the booking agent to accept the changes in the PNR, reissue or revalidate tickets, advise the customer, and remove the inactive segment(s). It is the responsibility of the Agent to respond promptly to queue warnings, inform the customer and remove any unwanted or inactive segments from the PNR.
- Manually priced fares - Where automated pricing is possible GL will not accept manually priced fares. Manually priced documents will be scrutinized, and ADM’s may apply.
- Manually inserted tickets - The GL will validate manually inserted ticket numbers, and reserves the right to cancel any reservations holding manually inserted ticket numbers which cannot be verified.
- Married Segments – The GL may provide a level of availability on Married Segments that may differ from the level of availability provided by if the segments were sold separately. An Agent must not separate Married Segments for any purpose nor manipulate the CRS/GDS system to circumvent GL's Married Segment Control logic. Availability must be requested from point of origin to point of destination in correspondence to the itinerary of the customer. Breakage of “married Segments” is considered an illegal action and an ADM covering the calculated loss of revenue to the Airline will be forwarded.
- Minimum Connecting Time - The Agent must ensure that the correct minimum connecting time between two segments is followed.
- Misuse of City Pair - No single flight segments may be added or deleted within an origin - destination through travel and through fare. The GL will debit, via Agent Debit Memo (ADM), for the loss of revenue the booking has caused. When the requested availability does not correspond to the actual travel route, GL Revenue Management will insert information in the PNR with the wording: "Misuse of city pair. ADM will be forwarded". Evidence will be attached to the ADM.
- Name Change - The Agent must secure to collect Name Change Fee according to fare rules where Name Change is not allowed free of charge. Neglect from doing so can cause an ADM covering the applicable fee.
- No-Show – Means a booked passenger where the agent has failed to issue tickets and/or cancel ticketed or unticketed reservations in cases where the passenger do not need the reservation anymore. Neglect to cancel un-needed segments/reservations is considered misuse. PNR’s holding segments where customer has been no-show are subject to scrutiny and may be cancelled and an ADM may be forwarded. GL will automatically cancel all remaining flights in the reservation if a customer is no show and no ticket is issued. GL Revenue Integrity will insert a SR element in the reservation and cancel all connecting and return GL flights. The following message will be inserted in the booking file if the passenger is no show and no ticket is issued: SROTHSZZ PNR CANCELLED AS NO SHOW/FLT/DDMMM
- Non-IATA Agents – Non-IATA agents will be identified by their pseudo city code in the reservation (PNR). Non-IATA agents must comply with this Reservations, Ticketing and Integrity Policy, and acknowledges this by making reservations on any GL flight. The agent or office behind the pseudo city code will be held responsible for compliance with this policy. The office responsible for the pseudo city code will be liable for any ADM’s.
- Passive Segments - Industry standard practice requires that passive segments are used for the purpose of ticketing only after a booking has been made in an airline’s inventory system. Invalid/mismatched passive segments will be rejected and a message sent to the booking agent which will require action at least 24 hours prior to flight departure. GL do not allow passive segments to be used for other reasons including, but not limited to, satisfying CRS/GDS productivity requirements, to circumvent fare rules or to fulfil administrative functions. Creating a PNR with Passive Segments to issue a client itinerary or invoice is a violation of GL Reservations, Ticketing and Integrity policy.
- Reservation (PNR) - The Agent is only allowed to make reservation transactions with a specific request from a customer and the reservation has to contain correct and complete information. The use of reservations (PNR’s) for any other purposes is considered misuse, and can cause an ADM covering any cost inflicted on the Airline.
- Refunds – Unused or partly used Traffic Documents has to be refunded according to IATA resolutions and applicable fare rules and the Agent must secure that the corresponding reservation is cancelled.
- Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD) Collection - The Agent must enter Secure Flight Passenger Data including full name, date of birth, gender, and Redress Number if applicable, for each customer in every PNR as required by authorities. GL also reserves the right to cancel any reservation not containing SFPD at least 72 hours prior to departure. PNRs created within 72 hours must include SFPD when the PNR is initially booked.
- SSR/OSI and Remarks – The agent must secure that instructions and warnings issued by GL are auctioned accordingly.
- Duplicate segments in reservation. GL will cancel duplicate segments in reservations, following the Condition of Carriage Rules. If several segments to/from same destination are booked in the same PNR, the system will handle it as a Dupe and cancel duplicate segments, even if segments have different travel dates. Cancellations may be avoided by issuing tickets for all segments at the same time, or book in different PNR`s. The selling office will always be informed with an SR information: SSR OTHS DUPE SPACE CNLD CPHGOH 11/03/14. If the selling office claims there is an error and wants to reinstate a cancelled segment, GL must be contacted within 24 hours after the cancellation.
- Taxes/Fees - The Agent must collect, report, and accurately code all taxes, fees and charges/surcharges imposed by the applicable governments, foreign countries or GL. Taxes are audited and negligence to do so will cause an ADM.
- Ticket Numbers - The Agent must issue and report a valid ticket number for all customers and entire itinerary in a PNR. If not all passengers included in the PNR are ticketed, the Agent must split the PNR and cancel un-ticketed passengers. The Agent may not provide a ticket number that does not match the customer and/or itinerary to circumvent ticketing requirements or to satisfy a Ticket Time Limit. Ticket numbers are scrutinized and misuse of ticket numbers can cause cancellation of PNR and/or ADM. If the customer is not ready to purchase before expiration of the ticketing period, the PNR must be cancelled. Holding inventory beyond the ticketing period is a violation of GL booking policies and directly harms the airlines and other customers by preventing the sale of these seats to customers who are ready to purchase.
- Ticket Time Limit - Date or time deadline required for ticket issuance referring to the applicable Fare Rule of the Farebasis in the ticket. Negligence of Ticketing Timelimit as it is stated in the applicable farenotes is considered misuse.
- Training and Testing - The Agent can create a test or training PNR only in the training mode of a GDS/CRS provider. Reserving live inventory in GL reservation system for any training and/or testing purpose is prohibited and the airline reserves the right to recover any costs associated with spoiled inventory.
- Voiding Tickets - When it is necessary to void a ticket the Agent must secure that either a new ticket is issued or that the corresponding reservation is cancelled.
- CTCM/CTCE & CTCT - Due to high frequency of traFfic disruption related to extreme weather in the Artic environment Insertion of CTCM & CTCE for passenger contact information in PNR is highly recommended for GL, as the passengers will receive direct information regarding changes in schedule. if their flight is disrupted. Selling office can insert passenger contact information both mobile and e-mail in correct format in all PNR´s. If the passengers do not wish to share their contact information the agent must insert their contact information, and a CTCR should be applied to the booking. The agent will then be responsible for informing the customer of any information from GL.
Definitions - Appendix:
- Agency Debit Memo (ADM) – An invoice issued to an Agent to collect additional money owed to GL for ticketing outside the Fare Rules or any other violation of the Reservations, Ticketing & Integrity Policy. ADM will be used to collect reimbursement for loss or additional cost inflicted on GL as a result of neglect of this policy.
- Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) - means the method of providing and issuing Standard Traffic Documents and other accountable forms and of accounting for the issuance of these documents between BSP Airlines on the one hand and Agents on the other. Described in the Passenger Sales Agency rules and in IATA Resolution 850 – Billing and Settlement Plans, and its Attachments.
- Churning – The process of repeated cancelling and rebooking of the same flight segment and inventory class for the same travel dates across one or more PNRs or GDSs including, without limitation, to circumvent or extend ticketing time limits, hold inventory or to meet GDS productivity requirements.
- Consolidator/Contractor – Is an agency which issue tickets on behalf of NON-IATA Travel Agents.
- IATA number – Means the numeric code allocated and attributed to each Approved Location of an Agent, in accordance with Resolution 822.
- Married Segments – Means that two or more segments are booked together in same input. Availability must always be requested from Point of Origin to Point of Destination to obtain the correct availability for the requested segments.
- Non IATA Agents - A travel agency without IATA accreditation to issue airline tickets, which accesses GL’s inventory through a CRS/GDS or other electronic means. For the avoidance of doubt, any Agency whose bookings do not contain a valid IATA number will be deemed a Non-IATA Agency. NON-IATA agents must secure that this policy is known to all employees in their agency. Non-IATA agencies will be identified by their Pseudo City Code.
- Origin & Destination (O&D) – Means that the availability taken will correspond to the Origin and Destination of the itinerary.
- PNR - Passenger Name Record.
- Pseudo City Code - The Non-IATA Agency, as well as the IATA Agency, will be identified by the Pseudo city code number in the applicable GDS. It is the responsibility of the Agent to ensure that its GDS provider transmits the correct Approved Industry Designator in its point of sale information.
- Ticket - The record of agreement, including electronic tickets, e.g., "GL electronic tickets" or "e-tickets," for the carrier(s) to provide transportation and related services under certain terms and conditions to the passenger named on the ticket in accordance with applicable governing tariffs and regulations.
Resolution 850M
AIRLINE ADM POLICY IN ALL BSP
- ADMs should only be used to collect amounts or make adjustments to agent transactions in respect of the issuance and use of Traffic Documents in case of:
- Unreported documents
- Fare under collection
- IT fares not sold in accordance to conditions and rules
- Incorrect fare basis for other carrier (fare basis shown on the ticket is defer from fare basis in PNR) in case of interline over billing
- Under collected taxes and fees on the ticket
- Uncollected rebooking, name change or lost ticket fees
- Incorrect commission applied
- Credit card charge backs
- Re-issuance without endorsements of other airline tickets
- Booking classes versus fare basis class as per fare rules
- Fare rules (class, fare basis) ignored for groups
- Interline tickets issued when no interline agreement exists
- Ticket issued with a segment status ‘not confirmed’ whereas the fare basis demands that all segments be confirmed
- Over refunded amount
- Refunds made outside the rules without providing airline authority or proof of evidence
- Missing refunds documents
- Missing exchanged documents in case of reissue
- ADMs shall be issued in (airline) Revenue Accounting system and up-loaded to BSP Link only within nine months of the final travel. Any ADM issued beyond this period shall be handled directly with Agent.
- Airlines shall provide Agents with the period of notice set up by BSP Link (two weeks at least) in order to review any ADM and dispute it.
- ADMs are to be specific in their details and reason.
- Any ADM relates to a specific transaction only , however, more than one charge can be included on one ADM with the same reason only , and a detailed supporting list is provided.
- When more than one ADM is raised in relation to the same ticket it shall be specified for a different adjustment to previous issues.
- All rejected or disputed ADMs must be handled by (airline) during two weeks assuming, that the relevant supporting information is provided.
If an agent disputes any one of our ADM (as per list above), Air Greenland maintains the right to re-issue any of these disputed ADM raising an administration fee of 10EUR/per ticket, if the agent’s dispute was not justified.
Air Greenland reserves the right to change any of these requirements without advance notification.
Documents uploaded via this facility in no way represent an opinion or policy of BSP link Management or of IATA. The information contained in these documents is provided by the Airline named and for the benefit of BSP Link users. IATA accepts no liability for any misrepresentation contained in these documents, the accuracy of the content and/or the use of the information contained in the document.