A
couple of airlines are warning travel agents that passenger name records could
be cancelled or agencies debited if they fail to properly submit the appropriate
data for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's Secure Flight
program, the American Society of Travel Agents alerted members in a dispatch
this week.
ASTA
said that US Airways warned agents this week that beginning Nov. 1,
"ticketed PNRs that do not contain proper Secure Flight data within 72
hours of departure may be cancelled," following an earlier warning from
Continental Airlines, which said it could debit agencies for failing to submit
Secure Flight data.
Though
ASTA noted that TSA has been collecting Secure Flight data elements, including
gender and date of birth, since August of last year, it said beginning Nov. 1, 2010,
"TSA has threatened to return all non-compliant records to the airlines
for follow-up," regardless of where the booking originated.
"As
it stands today, the airlines collect Secure Flight data at the time-of-booking
with all airline-direct reservations," ASTA said. "The agency channel
has the flexibility to collect Secure Flight data at any point during the
reservation process as long as the data elements are added to the PNR prior to 72
hours of travel. Yet this flexibility comes at a risk, as the burden of
following up with the customer and updating the PNR is on the travel
agent."
ASTA said it would work with TSA and the global
distribution systems to develop a solution for collecting Secure Flight data
"in a way that minimizes enforcement action by TSA and/or the airlines as
the Nov. 1 deadline approaches."