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SPAA claims victory in BSP payments row
The Scottish Passenger Agents Association has claimed victory in a two-year dispute with IATA over BSP payments which resulted in threats of legal action.
After what the association described as a “long and tortuous battle” with IATA, it won the argument for Scottish agents.
An amendment to the Passenger Sales Agency Agreement will now allow independent credit rating criteria to benefit the vast majority of agents in Scotland, according to the SPAA.
The new criteria takes effect from January 1 and it is hoped that Scottish agents will be able to revert to once monthly settlement within a matter of weeks.
Agents registered in Scotland had been forced to settle their BSP payments on a twice monthly basis while agents registered in the rest of the UK pay once monthly.
This meant that Scottish agents were being penalised when compared with branch locations of agents’ registered in England despite that fact that they could be adjacent to each other or competing for corporate accounts in Scotland or England.
In the case of corporate agents, heavy interest charges were being levied by the banks.
The SPAA argued that the action by IATA was unfair, discriminatory and disproportionate, and contravened the EU and UK competition law, while accepting that Scottish Trust Law is different to that elsewhere in the UK.
Many alternate avenues were explored, culminating in the threat of legal action, the SPAA said.
President Jimmy Martin said: “This is a victory for commonsense.
“All we ever wanted was to have a level playing field, and this amendment permits most agents to return to the status quo.”
Immediate past president Sandy MacPherson added: “I’m delighted that we have at last got a decision which is favourable to the association’s members.
“There has been some tough talking between our Air Committee and IATA, but we never gave up.”
by Phil Davies
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