LATAM is clamping down
on a number of booking
policy violations, including
hidden groups, which
could result in agent
fines, ADMs, invoices,
or loss of access to the
carrier’s inventory. Latam
is one of the first airlines
in this market to ADM for
hidden groups.
The airline says a hidden
group consists of 10 or
more individual bookings,
made by the same agency
Iata number, travelling
on the same itinerary
on the same date. A
spokesperson for the
airline said hidden groups
affected the control over
the airline’s inventory and
was the reason the policy
was being enforced.
Karen Foley, manager
at Harvey World Travel
Highway, told TNW
that while it would be
impractical for her to
manage her 30-passenger
groups through the GDS,
she could understand
why agents made hidden
group bookings for
smaller groups, because
group fares in some
cases cost more per
person than GDS fares.
The Latam
spokesperson said the
airline could not say as
a rule if a group fare
would be cheaper or
more expensive than
market fares, saying that
each group request was
analysed individually and
approved according to
demand.
“Our groups department
offers price advantages
and flexibility as groups
can be released free of
charge up to 61 days
before departure. Tickets
only have to be issued 30
days before departure and
group bookings receive
more attention regarding
contingency or schedule
change issues,” she
added.
David Pegg, md of Sure
Viva Travels, said that
instead of issuing more
restrictive ADM policies,
it would be more effective
for airlines to examine
their fare structures to
ensure that these did not
open them up for fare
manipulation in the first
place.
He also felt that airline
policy updates continued
to discriminate against
agents. Karen said she
also found it frustrating
that the same restrictions
were not placed on direct
passengers and she
wondered if Latam’s new
policy had been motivated
by a desire to reduce its
GDS fees.
Latam said, while the
policy affected agent
bookings only, individual
bookings were controlled
by a system ‘robot’ that
automatically cancelled
bookings falling into this
category.
