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| iata thailand plays hard ball |
| BANGKOK - Ticketing agents are pleading with IATA Thailand to continue to be flexible in enforcing its tougher Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) regulations, which finally kicked in on April 1, as abiding agents were being punished for the malpractice of errant ones. |
 The International Air Ticket Agency Association (ITA) is lobbying IATA Thailand
and airlines to relax the BSP rules, which were first announced early last year,
as the reservations systems of between 30 and 100 ticketing agents have been
shut down daily, since March.
The rules require agents to replenish their
bank guarantee, compulsory at a minimum two million baht (US$63,290), when their
sales volume reaches 85 per cent. IATA will issue the second and third warning
once sales reach the 95 and 99 per cent marks, otherwise agents’ reservation
systems will be temporarily shut down.
ITA member agent and TV Air Booking
managing director, Mr Anupong Kittilaksananand, said even if the ticketing
agents in question settled the payment immediately, it would take two working
days for cheques to clear.
"Meanwhile, we cannot book or issue any ticket.
Agents want to be able to exhaust our entire bank guarantee amount before making
payment. Also, once we have notified IATA of our payment through the hinge
account, we want the systems to be opened instantly. Why do we have to wait two
days after releasing our funds?"
JALPAK Tour & Travel (Thailand)
chairman, Mr Surapol Sritrakul, added he was worried about the many agents with
good credit records who were being affected. "There might be a surge in their
ticketing activity, particularly during peak periods, which might not give
agents enough time to make payment. IATA should at least look at an agent’s
track record before deciding to pull the plug on their reservation systems." He
added that if the restrictions continued, airlines would suffer from declining
revenue because more agents would be blocked daily from issuing tickets and
passengers would be inconvenienced.
IATA Thailand country manager, Mr
Chitvee Leelasiri, said IATA was standing firm on ensuring it received "good
funds" from agents before re-activating the reservations systems. "We were
flexible in the past but still faced overdue remittances and dishonoured
cheques, resulting in fresh cases of agent defaults in March. Most of the agents
who were in default had very good track records. There is no guarantee. Since
default is inevitable, we are now restricting the extent of the default."
To
prevent agents from defaulting, IATA switched to 100 per cent bank guarantee,
instead of a mix with insurance cover over the last year.
But Mr Anupong
argued defaults were still occurring, so instead of making the ticketing
business more complicated, IATA should get to the bottom of the problem and find
a better solution.
The ITA committee met representatives from 22 airlines on
April 8, but no motion was taken. IATA was not present. Qantas British Airways
commercial manager, Mr Boonsong Haruchaiyasak, said representatives from the
airlines, IATA, ITA and the GDSs planned to meet up to discuss the issue.
Cathay Pacific marketing manager for Thailand and Indochina, Mr Yongyuth
Lujintanont, said the aim of the meeting was to find "amicable" solutions to
prevent dishonest agents from taking advantage of the thriving ticketing
business, and to help honest agents thrive. |
| Posted on 20 May, 2008, Resource from TTG |
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