IATA accused of breaking EU rules

Wednesday, 17 Apr, 2009 0

IATA is being accused of breaking EU regulations by failing to protect the identity of travel agencies.

According to the European Technology & Travel Services Association, the airline association is continuing to sell its PaxIS product with travel agency identification.

EU regulations came into force on March 29 giving travel agencies the right to decide whether or not their identification may be disclosed in the booking data that Global Distribution Systems and IATA provide in their market intelligence products, such as MIDT or PaxIS.

The provision was introduced by the EU regulators following claims that travel agencies were suffering from unfair commercial pressure by airlines.

ETTSA secretary general Tom Parkersaid: â€œIATAâ€™s practice appears to be in direct contradiction to the Code of Conduct and seriously jeopardises the protection of travel agencies set out in the new regulation.

â€œLike other players in the travel industry, IATA must follow the rules set by the regulators, whether they like them or not. Users of the PaxIS product should be asking themselves the question whether they have been provided a legitimate product.â€

Other organisations have also voiced their concerns, including the World Travel Agents Association Alliance (WTAAA) of which the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Associations is a member.

ETTSA members include Amadeus, ebookers, Expedia, Opodo, Sabre (including its affiliate lastminute.com) and Travelport.

By Bev Fearis

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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