Ethiopian Airlines, which has suspended international flights until further notice, has issued the trade with a notification that it will ADM agents should flight segments cancelled by the airline not be removed from the GDS PNR at least 24 hours prior to departure.
“All cancelled flight segments will change to HX and UN status in the GDS PNR and if these segments are not removed from the GDS PNR at least 24 hours prior to the departure date, ET will be charged the full booking fees (by the GDS) for these segments. Failure to remove these inactive segments from the GDS PNRs will make the travel service provider susceptible to ADMs. ADM waivers will not be permitted,” said the notification.
ITC Lucinda May said while many airlines had been issuing agents with ADMs if HX segments were not updated for a while, it was disappointing to see them clamping down on this policy during a period of mass flight cancellations and a state-enforced lockdown where not all consultants had remote access to the GDS. She said the airlines were not equipped to cope with the influx of enquiries they had been receiving since the outbreak of the pandemic. This has left agents to battle, under threat of ADMs, to enact the various airline policies that were being implemented without easy access to contact centres.
