Agenda Page 1 of 6 Subject: Settlement of Involuntary Rerouting and Planned Schedule s ***Important Note*** This agenda item was originally submitted by IBS OPS and part of the main IBS OPS GM agenda item P7 however IBS OPS WG made some recent changes to the paper which indicated below in red color on pages 3,4 and 5. The item is therefore resubmitted as follows: Background: In February 2018 IATA hosted an exploratory workshop regarding standards for involuntary rerouting. The workshop was attended by personnel from customer experience, commercial, operational, and financial teams from several airlines together with technology providers and other industry stakeholders. The objective of this workshop was to discuss industry issues related to involuntary rerouting, with focus on improved automation standards to support processes to secure inventory. It became clear that a complete review of existing Resolutions and Recommended Practices would be necessary to close gaps, remove ambiguities, and align requirements of all stakeholders. Outputs to date are proposed amendments to Resolutions 735d and R766 with the intent to clearly define involuntary rerouting versus planned schedule change and align interline settlement standards in the Revenue Accounting Manual. With the consensus of workshop participants, highlights of the proposed amendments to R735d moving forward to Passenger Services Conference in October 2018 are as follows: 1- INVOLUNTARY REROUTE means a change to a passenger s itinerary as originally ticketed due to an interruption in the operation of a carrier s flight or inability to provide transportation for confirmed space, occurring within 48 hours of the scheduled departure date of the first impacted flight. 2- A change of carrier is not required to satisfy the requirements of an involuntary reroute. 3- Upgrading to a higher compartment class (cabin class) shall not occur unless specifically permitted by the New Operating Carrier when responding to the request or unless bilaterally agreed. 4- In responding to a request, the New Operating Carrier may provide guidance on how the re-routing should be effected, for example the New Operating Carrier may advise which Reservation Booking Designator to use. 5- Any involuntary change to a passenger s itinerary as ticketed that cannot be considered as an involuntary reroute shall be considered a Planned Schedule and the characters SKCHG shall be used in the endorsement /restriction area of the reissued document. Another output of the workshop is a flowchart for the RAM to help accountants distinguish between involuntary rerouting and planned schedule change. Problem: The RAM provides little guidance for settlement of documents reissued due to Planned Schedule and lacks definitions for involuntary rerouting or Planned Schedule. In most cases, tickets issued due to Planned Schedule are issued by the original validating carrier. This may or may not be the carrier responsible for the planned schedule change. Similar to involuntary rerouting, tickets reissued due to Planned Schedule are not re-priced by ticketing systems as there are no additional charges served to the customer. This is true for both fare and TFCs. Accordingly, clear procedures for the applicable fare and TFC to be used for interline settlement must be provided. 1
Page 2 of 6 At the 43 rd GPM held in November 2017, it was agreed to treat tickets reissued due to Planned Schedule similar to tickets reissued for voluntary rerouting. The Multi-lateral Proration Agreement has been amended accordingly. In light of this ruling and to simplify processing by proration systems, the working group believes TFC settlement should be consistent with this logic and follow the same path as voluntary rerouting. Furthermore, while less common, in the event of routing change the original validating carrier should have collected TFCs applicable to the original routing. This would mitigate any gain/loss resulting from the change in TFC amounts. Moreover, to achieve benefit of the workshop effort, reduce disputes and assist with settlement in case of incorrect ticketing, the following points should be addressed in the RAM. To align interline settlement standards with Resolution 735d, definitions for involuntary rerouting and planned schedule change should be provided To assist accountants with the application of timeframes in R735d, a flowchart to distinguish between involuntary rerouting and Planned Schedule should be added to the RAM Interline settlement procedures in case of involuntary rerouting and schedule change should be provided with examples for clarity IPAC should review Article D6 of the PMP for possible amendment since change of carrier is not required to satisfy requirements defining an involuntary rerouting An involuntary rerouting designation shall be considered invalid for any coupon with a scheduled departure date 5 or more days from the issue date of the reissued ticket Proposed Solution: 1- Add the following definitions in the RAM section for Explanation of Definitions used in the Revenue Accounting Manual. 1- Involuntary Rerouting - INVOLUNTARY REROUTE means a change to a passenger s itinerary as originally ticketed due to an interruption in the operation of a carrier s flight or inability to provide transportation for confirmed space, occurring within 2 days of the first scheduled departure date of the reissued ticket. In determining whether the change has occurred within 2 days, the day on which the ticket is reissued shall be compared to the first scheduled departure date of the reissued ticket. A change of carrier is not required to satisfy the requirements of an Involuntary Reroute. Note 1: For purposes of interline settlement and Revenue Accounting systems the RAM has translated 48 hours used in Resolution 735d to be equivalent to 2 days. Note 2: An involuntary change to an originally ticketed itinerary is required to meet the conditions of an involuntary reroute. 2- Planned Schedule Any ticket with an indication of schedule change in the endorsement/restriction area of the ticket shall be considered to be issued due to Planned Schedule. Additionally, if a ticket is designated as an involuntary reroute and is issued more than 2 days, regardless of the time difference, prior to the first scheduled departure date shown on the reissued ticket, then the ticket shall be considered to be a planned schedule change. Note: An involuntary change to an originally ticketed itinerary is required to meet the conditions of a Planned Schedule. 2
Page 3 of 6 3- First Impacted Flight also known as the first sector of the involuntary change to the passenger s new itinerary shown on the new, reissued ticket. In context of this procedure, this is the first scheduled departure date on the reissued ticket. 4- Scheduled Departure Date also known as the ticketed departure date. 2- Amend A2, 2.5 as follows: 2.5 Involuntary Reroutings, Billing Values a. Move the existing A2, 2.5 to new A2, 2.8 b. Replace existing A2, 2.5 with paragraphs below. An involuntary rerouting is defined as a change to a passenger s itinerary as originally ticketed due to an interruption in the operation of a carrier s flight or inability to provide transportation for confirmed space. Sectors on the reissued ticket may only be recognized as involuntary rerouting when the reissued ticket has an issue date 2 days or less from the first scheduled departure date shown on the reissued ticket. A change of carrier is not required to satisfy the requirements of an Involuntary Reroute. Where an involuntary change to a passenger s itinerary as originally ticketed is made and an involuntary reroute designation is shown but the first scheduled departure date is more than 2 days from the issue date of the reissued ticket, such ticket shall be considered issued due to Planned Schedule. An involuntary designation shall be considered invalid for any coupon with a scheduled departure date 5 or more days from the issue date of the reissued ticket. When counting the number of days for this procedure, the issue date day following the date of the reissued ticket shall be day one. Example: Issue Date = 01 May Scheduled Departure Date = 05 06 May The timeframe between issue date and scheduled departure date is 5 days. A flowchart to assist with the application of timeframes in R735d and help distinguish between Involuntary Rerouting and Planned Schedule is provided in the Introduction and Administration section of the RAM. 3
Page 4 of 6 Examples: Example 1: Example 2: Example 3: Example 4: First scheduled departure date on reissue 02 May Original routing: NYC DL LON departure 01 May Revised routing: NYC DL LON departure 02 03 May First scheduled departure date on reissue 03 04 May Original Routing: LON BA x/hkg JL TYO JL x/sin BA LON Revised Routing: LON CX x/hkg JL TYO JL x/sin BA LON Coupons 1 and 2 ticketed departure date 01 May Coupons 3 and 4 ticketed departure date 05 06 May *Ticketed departure date is 5 or more days from the date of issue *No change made to coupons 3 and 4. These coupons are not INVOL or Schedule Treat As: INVOL INVOL Schedule INVOL Ignore INVOL* 5- Add new paragraph A2, 2.5.8 shown below. 2.5.8 The TFC to be used for interline billing in case of involuntary rerouting shall be in accordance with RAM A2, 1.8.2.2 and relevant paragraphs of A2,1.8. 6- Create a new paragraph A2, 2.8 entitled Planned Schedule. A2, 2.8 Planned Schedule Planned Schedule means any modification to the operation of a flight as filed in an airline's schedules which may require passenger notification, and/or rebooking and/or re-ticketing. Planned Schedule procedures are defined in Recommended Practice 1735. The characters INVOL shall not be used in the endorsement/restriction text in the case of a Planned Schedule. Even if involuntary reroute is indicated on the coupon, in the case of a planned schedule change, ignore the involuntary designation. Any ticket with an indication of schedule change shown in the endorsement/restriction area of the ticket shall be considered to be issued due to Planned Schedule. Additionally, if a ticket is designated as an involuntary reroute and is issued more than 2 days, regardless of the time difference, prior to the first scheduled departure date shown on the reissued ticket, then the ticket shall be considered to be issued due to Planned Schedule. Tickets reissued due to Planned Schedule shall be settled in accordance with RAM A2, 1.1 and Chapter A2, Paragraph 3 based on the ticketed information and date of issue of the original ticket. The TFC to be used for interline billing in case of Planned Schedule shall be in accordance with RAM A2, 1.8.2.1 and relevant paragraphs of A2,1.8. 4
Page 5 of 6 When counting the number of days for this procedure the issue date day following the date of the reissued ticket shall be day one. Example: Issue Date = 01 May Departure Date = 05 06 May The timeframe between issue date and scheduled departure date is 5 days. A flowchart to assist with the application of timeframes in R735d and help distinguish between Involuntary Rerouting and Planned Schedule is provided in the Introduction and Administration section of the RAM. Examples of Planned Schedule : Treat As: Example 1: Endorsement/Restriction Text shows SKCHG Schedule Example 2: Endorsement/Restriction Text shows Invol due to Sched Schedule Example 3: Endorsement/Restriction Text shows INVOL First scheduled departure date on reissue 04 May Schedule 5
Page 6 of 6 Actions of an Operating Carrier causes a change to passenger s itinerary as ticketed Flow chart to assist with timeframes in Resolution 735d Circumstances in R735d Paragraph 2.1 are met occurs within 48 hrs of scheduled departure date of first impacted flight is an Involuntary Reroute as described in R735d is not an Involuntary Reroute as defined in R735d Original Operating Carrier must arrange onward carriage and may obtain inventory from a New Operating Carrier indicating an Involuntary Reroute has occurred The Operating Carrier must make the change using existing reservation procedures for a Planned Schedule Original Operating Carrier must reissue impacted coupons using the characters INVOL in the endorsement/restrictions area The Validating Carrier (or their agent) reissues the document using the characters SKCHG and follows their internal process (may or may not follow RP1735) New Operating Carrier uplifts coupon and proceeds with interline billing to validating carrier From here down is for Revenue Accounting Use Does ticket indicate reissue due to schedule change Bill as a Planned Schedule in accordance with RAM A2, 2.8 or following bilateral agreement Does ticket indicate reissue due to invol reroute Bill as a voluntary issue, as no indication of involuntary reroute is shown (unless a bilateral agreement such as a re-protection agreement is in place with agreed endorsement) Did the reissue occur 2 days or less from the first scheduled departure date on the reissued ticket Ignore the involuntary reroute designation. Bill as voluntary issue Does the coupon to be billed have a scheduled departure date 5 or more days from the date of reissue Assume the involuntary reroute designation has been validly applied Bill in accordance with RAM A2, 2.5 or bilateral agreement 6