As the Nov. 1 deadline for industry compliance to TSA's Secure Flight requirements approaches, there is progress but also some finger-pointing between airlines, global distribution systems and travel agencies regarding readiness to accommodate federal government mandates. Facing steep fines, airlines have taken steps to ensure ticketed passengers provide the necessary information.
Since industry implementation began after the Transportation Security Administration published the final rule in December 2008, travel agencies and GDS operators also have adapted their systems and processes to handle Secure Flight requirements. For travelers, that means providing at the time of booking or within 72 hours of departure their full name as it appears on government-issued identification, date of birth, gender and U.S. Department of Homeland Security redress number, if applicable. Otherwise, their tickets may be canceled or boarding passes withheld.
On Oct. 1, an "agreed upon resolution" among Air Transport Association members took effect regarding the "collection and transmittal of [Secure Flight] information via the GDSs and travel agencies," according to ATA vice president of communications David Castelveter. The resolution details when and how airlines should inhibit ticketing in those channels when required data elements are absent from bookings. That resolution did not receive the required consensus among International Air Transport Association members and rather than being a mandate has been considered a recommended practice, according to an IATA official. The official added that at an industry meeting last week, "there was a discussion about harmonizing the global standards. It was agreed that IATA should have the same universal ticketing inhibition worldwide as the ATA does. This needs to go up for a full vote" during an IATA conference scheduled for Oct. 21-22.
To get a jump on the requirements, American Airlines on Sept. 15 began inhibiting tickets in the absence of complete Secure Flight data for all bookings for travel on or after Nov. 1. "For bookings and ticketed reservations made prior to September 15, 2010, for travel November 1, 2010 and beyond that do not contain Secure Flight passenger data ... American has implemented a 'search and send' software application that searches its database to look for reservations that do not contain Secure Flight passenger data (SFPD)," according to the carrier's Web site. "Reservations without SFPD are sent to an agency queue for the immediate addition of SFPD into the reservation."
United Airlines on its Web site wrote that it "reserves the right to cancel any" noncompliant reservation. Continental Airlines on its site explained that "failure [by travel agencies] to provide the required SFPD at least 72 hours prior to departure may result in a debit memo."
Agency Challenges And Solutions
To avoid debit memos and other disruptions, some agencies also have communicated new requirements to their accounts. In a message posted for GetThere users, Balboa Travel wrote it "will require that the complete information be present in all bookings no later than August 30, 2010. This means that effective September 1, 2010, our system will inhibit the issuance of a ticket if all of the traveler's SFPD is not present." Similarly, Egencia in a Web site posting indicated that it would "begin requiring that Secure Flight data be present for all air travel on August 26, 2010. If TSA Secure Flight data is missing, you will receive a message to enter this information before an online air booking can be completed."
Some travel agencies, however, are feeling a bit challenged. "We are having a helluva time keeping up with the changing standards from the airlines," wrote one agency executive in an email to Management.travel.
"Yes, indeed there are different standards from different airlines," according to a Carlson Wagonlit Travel official. "Airlines have differed around how aggressive their timeline has been for implementing Secure Flight requirements, as well as their process and penalties for noncompliance."
For its part, CWT already began "analyzing profile data regularly to measure adoption, and reviewing compliance reporting to better understand those records where ticketing was inhibited," according to the official. "CWT North America has mandated the Secure Flight data elements via both online booking tools and counselor-assisted reservation processes. To do so, we've upgraded our technology and automated the requirement via mid-office quality control processes.
"For CWT North America, given the variation by airline, we moved forward adopting the most stringent views," the official continued. Finding AA "the most aggressive," the travel management company for U.S. and Canadian operations opted to adhere to the carrier's Sept. 15 deadline. Outside North America, CWT "is largely adopting the same operational processes as CWT North America, supporting a Nov. 1 implementation date."
At BCD Travel, "the biggest challenges are different interpretation of the TSA regulations and pushing clients to properly updating customer profiles to accurately reflect the changes," according to Americas vice president of supplier relations Dave Mitchell. "Several airlines already have inhibited ticketing if the information either does not exist or is incomplete, while others have set dates over the next couple of weeks." He also noted that "several airlines" warned the agency about debit memos, "however, none has specifically stated to us that they will actually process [debit memos] or what the specific parameters would look like."
Mitchell also told Management.travelthat BCD developed a process covering both traditional bookings and those in online booking tools "for contacting passengers to secure any missing information. We expect the processes to evolve as we move through TSA timelines." As of now, he added, "we are now transmitting the data without any real issues."
The GDS Role
As intermediaries between agencies and airlines, GDSs play a critical role in supplying Secure Flight data. GDS operators Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport each stated their readiness to inhibit ticketing when data is missing and to use the industry standard Special Service Request - Advise Passenger Information (SSR ADPI) messaging to place incomplete bookings in travel agency queues.
However, Delta Air Lines, which on its Web site wrote that it is "ready to accept and process the additional Secure Flight passenger information for Delta reservations and all reservations received from our travel partners," told the U.S. Department of Transportation in a Sept. 23 filing that "GDSs have not prepared themselves from a technology standpoint for the upcoming Nov. 1 Secure Flight compliance mandate. They do not have the technological capabilities to assure that travel agencies submit these data as part of the booking. Instead, they are relying on the agencies and airlines to capture these data. They are willing to risk great inconvenience for their agency partners and consumers by not creating an industry standard procedure within the booking process, which requires customers to enter the Secure Flight data as part of the ticketing process."
In response, a Sabre Travel Network spokeswoman wrote that Delta's comments are "completely wrong" and that Sabre is "completely ready" for the Nov. 1 deadline. She noted that Sabre "places passenger name records potentially at risk of missing SFPD onto the agency's designated queues for agency review and to add SFPD if applicable." The official added that "Sabre agencies have the ability to activate a tool that will validate the PNR at the end of the transaction to ensure SFPD is present.
"Sabre provides a Secure Flight Inhibit Ticketing service to participating carriers for GDS ticketing," the spokeswoman added. "All airlines in the Sabre system have been given the opportunity to participate in this optional program and can be activated at any time. If SFPD is required and not present for the passenger(s)/segment(s) being ticketed, an error response will be returned to the agent, advising to add SFPD to issue the ticket."
At Travelport, a spokeswoman said the company's three GDSs (Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan) "will be ready by Nov. 1 to inhibit ticketing for those airlines" using Travelport's new Travelport Inhibit Ticketing for Secure Flight product, to be made available globally before the deadline. Travelport already has made available applications to ensure SPFD is present prior to the reservation being completed for all customers globally. "Since the announcement of the Transportation Security Administration Secure Flight program in 2009, Travelport has been heavily engaged with airlines and travel agency customers to communicate our plans to help all parties comply with the program to minimize impact to our customers and the travel experience of their customers," according to the spokeswoman.
Similarly, Amadeus "is not only ready, but has already implemented the needed software and processes to support the TSA Secure Flight program," according to Amadeus North America product manager Jim Martin. "Amadeus has implemented the required functionality as mandated by the ATA resolution, as well as all recommended functionality."
Martin indicated that Amadeus has taken several specific steps to prepare its systems. For example, "all" Amadeus agency desktops, its host system and "all online booking engines distributed by Amadeus" by July had been equipped with the software and "booking flows" needed to collect SPFD.
Like Sabre and Travelport, Amadeus also implemented "involuntary inhibition of ticketing" for noncompliant bookings and created an agency queue for reservations missing required data. Martin noted that while Amadeus has implemented the new Special Service Request code enabling airlines to inform agencies of noncompliant bookings, "to date, no airline has begun transmission of these new IATA standard messages." He added that Amadeus this week added SPFD transmission capabilities for "passive bookings made directly with the carrier and entered into the Amadeus system manually by our travel agency customers."
Meanwhile, Amadeus this month plans to release a complimentary "downloadable robot that will search all reservations in an agency's office (on agency demand) and identify any reservation missing SFPD."
All three GDS operators noted that travel agency subscribers cannot override ticket inhibition when complete SFPD is not present in a reservation.