The Booking Source Premium is a surcharge that will be assessed on a per segment basis for all American Airlines and American Eagle marketed bookings.

Transcription

1 International Booking Source Premium Frequently Asked Questions Updated January 25, What is a Booking Source Premium? The Booking Source Premium is a surcharge that will be assessed on a per segment basis for all American Airlines and American Eagle marketed bookings. 2. Why is American instituting these premiums? American was recently notified of a significant increase in the booking fees paid to Travelport in markets outside of the United States. Travelport GDSs Worldspan and Galileo are now significantly more expensive than other booking platforms in the affected countries. 3. What can my agency do to avoid the Source Premium? The following distribution platforms will not generate an ADM for the Booking Source Premium based on their current cost to American: the Amadeus, Abacus, Axess, Kotis, Travelsky, Infini and Sabre GDSs that may be available in your market, together with the American Airlines Direct Connect (where available). 4. Why does this premium apply to American Airlines and American Eagle marketed flights only? Assessing this premium on AA and AA* marketed flight segments responds to the same method the GDSs uses to assess booking fees to American for any ticketed itineraries. The identity of the ticketing and operating carrier are not factors in the assessment of the booking fee. 5. If I book AA on another airline s ticket stock, do I get an ADM? Debit memos will be assessed when American Airlines/American Eagle is the marketing carrier for the segment, regardless of operating or ticketing carrier. 6. What drives the segment fee charge: a) booking or b) ticketing? The original booking is the event that drives the initial booking fee to American, and therefore will also drive the assessment of the Booking Source Premium to agencies using the Travelport GDS. 7. How is the Booking Source Premium applied? Is it for each reservation, segment or ticket? The Booking Source Premium will apply to each American Airlines marketed segment that is booked. 8. If I have active Travelport bookings, will I receive a debit memo for the premium? Debit memos will only be issued for bookings made through the Travelport GDS on or after the effective date of December 20 th, For clarification, the Source Premium does not apply to bookings made prior to that time even if the passenger's itinerary is flown on or after December 20, 2010.

2 9. What if I make a booking and it is subsequently cancelled? For all cancelled segments, American will credit the booking agency equal to the amount of the original debit memo based on the month that the cancellation occurred. 10. Why were we not given more advance notice of these premiums? American was given even less advance notice by Travelport of these increased booking fee charges. In fact, the increased charges take effect prior to the effective date of the premium. American is absorbing these charges during this interim period so that we can provide you with as much time as possible to evaluate and/or implement alternative systems to avoid these premiums while maintaining access to American s fare content via the Travelport GDSs. 11. Why am I being charged in US dollars vs. my local currency? The increased GDS booking fees that AA is managing with the Booking Source Premium charge are denominated in and collected in US dollars. Therefore, the Source Premium is also denominated in US dollars. The local BSP will convert the debit memo into local currency based on the exchange rate from the month the booking occurred. 12. Will I receive a booking source premium for booking through other channels? The Booking Source Premium is only effective for GDS sources listed in the notification. If you choose to use another booking source that is not listed, then you will not be assessed the Booking Source Premium. 13. What exceptions will be granted? No exceptions will be granted other than the correction of billing errors. However, American is willing to discuss the steps necessary to address agencies' needs during the time needed to contract with and implement an alternate booking source. 14. Does the Booking Source Premium apply to bookings in all fare classes? Yes. 15. Are AAirpass bookings subject to the Booking Source Premium? Yes. Agencies that book a significant amount of AAirpass itineraries may avoid the Booking Source Premium by implementing an alternate booking source that supports AAirpass. 16. Will this charge apply to bookings only when travel begins in the countries on the Booking Source Premium list? The premium will be applied based on point of sale for the booking, not country of origination. Any segment booked through a Travelport GDS in one of the countries on the Booking Source Premium list will be assessed a premium, regardless of itinerary. 17. If the booking and ticketing agency are different who will receive the ADM? AA will send the Booking Source Premium debit memo to the booking agency except for situations where the booking agency is non-iata accredited or the booking source did not trigger the higher GDS fee. In those situations, the Booking Source Premium debit memo will be sent to the ticketing agency.

3 18. If I claim a PNR booked directly with AA, through another GDS, or through a Travelport GDS in a country where there is no applicable Booking Source Premium in effect and then ticket it in a Travelport GDS (in a Booking Source Premium effective country) does the Booking Source Premium apply? Yes, in these situations the ticketing of a claimed PNR and/or passive segments generates a higher fee charged to American by Travelport so the Booking Source Premium would be assessed to the ticketing agency. 19. If I book segments in a Travelport GDS and then it is claimed and ticketed elsewhere is the Booking Source Premium applicable? Yes, as the booking causes a higher fee to be charged to American by Travelport, a Booking Source Premium would be applicable. 20. What if I book segments in a Travelport GDS and the PNR is never ticketed? The process of booking segments in a Travelport GDS will generate a higher booking fee to American by Travelport so a Booking Source Premium will be applied. However, if the segments are later cancelled in the Travelport system prior to the departure date a subsequent credit will be given to the booking agency. 21. Will the waitlisting of a passenger cause a Booking Source Premium? Yes, booking a waitlisted segment in a Travelport GDS generates a higher booking fee to American by Travelport so a Booking Source Premium will be applied. However, if the segments are not confirmed and are later cancelled in the Travelport system prior to the departure date a subsequent credit will be given to the booking agency. 22. Is the Booking Source Premium applicable for changes made to a PNR booked prior to December 20th? Any changes made on or after December 20th that result in new segments being booked will be subject to the Booking Source Premium as these segments trigger the higher booking fees from Travelport to American. 23. Will taxes be charged on the booking source premium i.e. VAT? Taxes are not applicable for the booking source premium with the exception of Mexico point of sale bookings where VAT is required. 24. Will there be an administrative service fee charged per debit memo? AA would normally apply an administrative service fee per debit memo (not per segment) to recover processing costs. AA has chosen not to apply this service fee at this time. However, AA reserves the right to begin applying an administrative service fee at some point in the future. 25. How often will Booking Source Premiums be assessed? Applicable charges (less any applicable credits) will be assessed on a monthly basis. 26. How will a Source Premium invoice be calculated?

4 For each Other Booking Source used by the agency, the total Source Premium invoice will be calculated by multiplying the number of net segments booked by the agency during the month and the Source Premium rate per net segment applicable to the Other Booking Source. 27. How are "net segments" calculated? Net segments are the sum of all segments created in the billing period, less all segments canceled. 28. How is the Booking Source Premium calculated for multi-passenger itineraries? The Booking Source Premium is calculated by applying the appropriate Booking Source Premium rate per net segment to the total segments on the itinerary. If there are 5 passengers on the same 4-segment itinerary, then the total number of segments subject to the Source Premium is If a booking is made in December and canceled in January, does the agency receive a credit? Yes. The booking made in December would increase the number of net segments billed and the cancellation in January would decrease the number of net segments by the same amount. 30. When will agencies receive their first invoice? The first invoice will be for the December 20-31, 2010 billing period and will be sent out during the first quarter of Does the Booking Source Premium apply to changes in itineraries? The Booking Source Premium will apply to any net segments created using a Travelport GDS, whether through an originated or changed itinerary. If an agency deletes a segment and creates another, then the net number of segments created is zero. Therefore, no additional Booking Source Premium would be incurred by the agency. However, if the agency were to cancel a nonstop segment and replace it with a two-leg connection, the number of net segments created would be one. In that case, the agency would incur a Booking Source Premium equivalent to one additional net booked segment. 32. Which segment status codes/booking codes are applicable for the Booking Source Premium? A complete list of billable booking codes by GDS is included below Galileo Status Code AK AL AN BK BL BN DL HK HL Description Passive segment confirmed outside Galileo Passive segment waitlisted outside Galileo Passive segment requested outside Galileo Passive segment booked outside Galileo Passive segment waitlisted outside Galileo Passive segment requested outside Galileo Deferred for waitlist Holding confirmed if filed as active or passive Holding waitlist

5 HN HX IN IX KK KL NO PA PB PN RR TK TL TN UC UN US UU WL XK XX Holding need Cancel requiring action by subscriber If not holding, need If not cancelled, cancel segment Confirming Confirm from waitlist No action Priority 1 waitlist Priority 2 waitlist Pending need Reconfirmation Advise time change Advise time change on waitlisted segment Advise time change on segment request Unable to accept sell, waitlist closed Unable - flight does not operate Unable to accept sell, have waitlist Unable have waitlisted Was waitlisted Cancel segment without sending message Cancel segment Worldspan Status Code DL GA GC GN GO GX HK HL HN HX IN IS IX KK KL LL MK ML NN NO OX PA Description Deferred from waitlist, code not sent in TTY Group request - preferred, code not sent in TTY Group request unable - can't be listed, code not sent in TTY Group request - alternate, code not sent in TTY Group request - no action taken, code not sent in TTY GA-GN-GU-GL action codes affected by SC Holding confirmed Hold on waitlist Holding need Have cancelled If not holding, need If not holding, sell If holding, cancel Need confirmed Confirmed from waitlist Requested waitlist Passive segment, confirmed, code not sent in TTY Memo list, code not sent in TTY Request need No action Only cancel if alternate available

6 PB PC PD PN RR SC SS TK TL TN UC UN US UU WK WL WN XK Pending need, code not sent in TTY Reconfirmed, international Schedule change, code not sent in TTY Sell Time change - confirming Time change - waitlist Time change - pending segment Unavailable, waitlist closed Flight not operating Unable to accept sell, waitlist Unable to confirm, waitlist Was confirmed Was waitlisted Was needed Passive segment, cancel - no message sent