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IATA urged to delay e-ticket switch
Advantage is urging IATA to delay its plan to ditch paper air tickets by May 31 for another six months.
The consortium believes the switch to e-ticket will stretch the relationship between its business travel agency members and their clients “to breaking point”, and could also lead to higher prices.
It fears airlines are not prepared for the switch, particularly in relation to interline e-ticket agreements, and therefore the move will create a “shambles” for the business travel sector.
When Advantage sent a letter to 56 airlines asking how they planned to handle business on routes not covered by e-ticket interlining yielded, it only got six responses – and four of those were inconclusive.
“Airlines that currently have paper ticket interlining are dropping these deals all over the place because, come May 31, they don’t know how they will pay each other,” said director of business travel Norman Gage.
“For agents it is going to be a nightmare. GDS systems might show a fare that it isn’t possible to book.”
“And in many cases agents will be forced to buy separate tickets instead of one, and that will mean having to tell clients the price is much more than originally thought.”
“Corporates will need to understand that this is not the agents trying it on, but a problem we have no control over.”
IATA had originally set December 31 2007 for the switch over but this date was postponed due to similar concerns.
Advantage is also unhappy because many of its members currently rent technology to issue paper tickets on long-term deals, and this technology will be redundant at the end of May.
“This is a very unsatisfactory situation all round. Advantage is certainly not against e-ticketing, but this deadline is not realistic. We are hoping IATA sees sense and gives airlines more time to manage the transition.”
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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