Trade Ticketing with e-ticket mandate effective 01 Jun 08

Background

IATA has mandated e-ticketing effective 01 June 08. Also IATA BSPs have stopped accepting new orders for paper document stock some time ago. This means that IATA agents globally from 01 June 08 onwards will only be able to issue e-tickets. While much has been done over the last few years and more intensely over the last few months to increase each carrier’s e-ticket capability, a few scenarios will not be e-ticket eligible from the first day of the mandate, mainly those involving Interline e-ticket (IET) partners.

Sales of British Airways tickets through BSP are now 99% e-ticket, and BA has more Interline e-ticket partners implemented than any other European Carrier.

e-Tickets only from 01 June 2008 in IATA BSPs

For tickets issued on or after 01 June 2008 paper tickets must not be issued on BSP neutral paper ticket stock using British Airways airline accounting code (BA 125).

e-ticket capability matrix

This table lists all the e-ticket functionalities that are renowned to have some limitations and states whether the functionality exists from 01JUN08 or not and if not , what the proposed workaround will be.

It is also split by itineraries with only BA sectors and those involving other airlines.

	e-ticket capability for	Itinerary with BA flights only	Itinerary involving Interline e-ticket (IET) partners	Workaround/ comment
1.	Itinerary involving other airlines	N/a	Currently 144 IET partners (click here for table)
2.	PNRs including Infants	Full functionality exists	Not supported by all IET partners (click here for table)	Request paper ticket from BA
3.	Airports/routes	All BA airports/routes are eligible for e-tickets	Not all airports/routes are eligible for e-tickets	Request paper ticket from BA
4.	Open segments	Functionality exists	Not supported by all IET partners (see below)	Book segments and then change date if necessary
5.	Itineraries with more than 16 coupons/segments	Functionality will not be developed	Functionality will not be developed	Eff. 01JUN08 fare rules amended to limit RTW type fares to 16 coupons
	Groups	Full functionality exists	See point 1,2 and/or 3
	Allocations/allotments	Functionality exists	Not applicable
	Passive segments	Full functionality exists	Not applicable
	PTA/TOD	obsolete	To be used for workarounds only
	Codeshare flights	Full functionality exists	See point 1 , 2 and/or 3
	Paper Government warrants	obsolete	Not applicable

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1. Ticketing itineraries involving other airlines

Please also read Reminder on BA ticket issue policy below

a) Interline e-ticket partners (IET) with British Airways

British Airways has completed IET agreements with the following carriers. This means that providing British Airways flights are part of an interline journey with the following carriers, British Airways tickets may be issued in accordance with the BA Ticket Issue Policy.

• Issue e-tickets on BA (125) stock

To find out in your GDS if an IET agreement exists between BA and another airline please read following instructions

Or else have a look at this list

2. Ticketing of Infants on interline itineraries

The following carriers have completed IET with British Airways but have limited functionality in their system to accept e-tickets for infants who are travelling as part of an interline journey involving British Airways.

Issue the tickets for the adults in the normal way.

• Request paper tickets from British Airways for infants – see below for instructions .

List of carriers which are not accepting infants e-tickets

3. Ticketing routes of IET partners which are not e-Ticket enabled

The same process to request a paper ticket should be followed for itineraries that contain routes that are not yet e-ticket enabled, either where an existing IET partner is the operating carrier or where BA are a marketing carrier on a codeshare route . To find out which routes are not e-ticket eligible on other carriers please look out for the lack of the e-ticket indicator in the availability display or against the booked segment in the PNR.

• Request paper tickets from British Airways for journeys involving BA or IET carriers on these routes – see below for instructions

4. Ticketing IET partners that do not support Open Flight Coupons

The following existing IET partners do not support the issuance of open e-ticket flight coupons. Therefore an e-ticket cannot be issued if it contains an open sector with any of these carriers. BA will not be able to issue paper tickets on the travel agent's behalf in these instances.

• Book segment, issue the e-Ticket and then change if necessary

Airline code	Airline name
AE	Mandarin
AZ	Alitalia
BE	Flybe
BR	Eva Air
CI	China Airlines
CX	Cathay Pacific
CY	Cyprus Airways
CZ	China Southern
EI	Aer Lingus
GF	Gulf Air
HA	Hawaiian Air
JL	Japan Airlines
LI	LIAT
LR	LACSA
LY	El Al Israel Airlines
MI	Silkair
MX	Mexicana
NH	All Nippon Airways
PR	Philippine Airlines
TA	TACA Intl.
TG	Thai Airways
TP	TAP Portugal
UA	United Airlines
UL	Sri Lankan Airlines

(Note – this list is subject to change)

5. Ticketing itineraries containing more than 16 Coupons.

Effective 01 June 2008 BA will be amending some Round the World fares to limit them to a maximum of 16 coupons, including surface segments, for the entire journey. This is to enable fare products to be ticketed by IATA Agents after 01 June 2008, when the maximum number of coupons is limited to 16.

• No action required.

6. Replacement of paper MCO/MPD and BA Policy

IATA member carriers have already adopted standards for an Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) that will replace MCO/MPD, however it is not anticipated that this will be fully available for use until 2010 at the earliest. During the interim period all other documents can be issued by means of a paperless MCO (also referred to as MD50) in all CRS the same as today, but no paper coupons will be printed. Each CRS calls this document slightly differently (eg. Amadeus refers to it as vMCO*). Only for markets/CRS where the paperless MCO is not available can the vMPD via BSPLink be used.

British Airways will accept paperless MCO transactions, but it should be noted that certain transactions cannot be fulfilled without a value coupon, e.g. part refund transactions, or any another transactions where the customer would need a coupon, which has an exchangeable value.

As a result, paperless MCO/ vMPD transactions can only be issued with the following “reason for issuance” codes:

1 PTA/TOD
Q Rebooking Fee International
R Refundable Balance

These are the only codes that will be supported by British Airways via paperless MCO in the CRS or in BSPlink where it is used. BA does not support any other “Reason for Issuance” (RFI) codes, including “excess baggage” transactions. Travel Agents should direct passengers wishing to arrange “excess baggage” to ba.com or to the airports.
BA will be monitoring RFI usage to ensure best practise is used.

MCO/MPD usage	Replacement
Collection of penalties/rebooking fees	Paperless MCO / vMPD
Refunds/partial refunds (residual value)*	Refund ticket/vMCO*
Excess baggage	Purchase on ba.com or at airport
PTA	Paperless MCO/vMPD

*Please read more about the issuance of vMCOs`for refundable balances.

7. Instructions on how to request paper tickets from BA for non e-Ticketable itineraries (as outlined in points 1 , 2 and 3 )

Please request paper tickets as if you needed a PTA/TOD so that customers can pick up the ticket on departure. You can do this by contacting your local BA office for us to dispatch the ticket, allowing for at least 7 working days.

Please note, for departures from VRN/TRN/BLQ/VCE/GOA/PSA/NAP/CAG/CTA/BRI & IEV no PTA/TOD is available at the airport. Tickets need to be issued and dispatched by your local BA office.

No PTA fee applies.

Reminder , for IET PNRs containing infants please issue e-tickets for adults and only request paper ticket for infant(s)

Follow the procedure to issue a paperless MCO/vMPD as follows:

Complete a paperless MCO/ vMPD for each passenger or infant to be ticketed:
Enter the following mandatory fields:

NAME OF PASSENGER
REASON FOR ISSUE: Select 50 -Specified MCO
REASON FOR ISSUANCE CODE: Select 1 - Prepaid Ticket Advice
AIRLINE CODE: enter 125
FARE – enter the fare
TAXES - insert all taxes applicable to a ticket issue
SERVICE CHARGE/TAX ON MPD: enter if applicable
PNR – enter PNR locator
FORM of PAYMENT: If form of payment is CREDIT, the credit card type, number, expiry date and amount fields have to be completed.
Only when requesting paper ticket for an Infant add:
ISSUED in CONNECTION WITH - Enter the associated ticket number for adult (3 digit airline code followed by the 10 digit ticket number e.g. 1251234567890)

REMARKS: enter any additional information

Then:
Enter the paperless MCO/vMPD number in the PNR (booking record).
Enter these details as an OSI item for transmittal to British Airways:
Amadeus : OS BA MPD 1252222333444
Galileo : SI.BA MPD 1252222333444
Worldspan: 3OSIBA MPD 1252222333444
Sabre: 3OSI BA MPD 1252222333444

8. Reminder on BA ticket issue policy

We have created a document that you can download and that provides guidance on the use of e-tickets and instructions on what to do when e-tickets cannot be issued.