Etihad Airlines has released a statement to the trade this week saying that agents should ensure they follow best practice with regard to GDS churning. From November 1, 2022, ADMs will be reinstated for churning.
Travel News asked US-based Perry Flint, Head of Corporate Communications, Iata if it would be fair to say that airlines had been more lenient throughout the pandemic. Did they not charge as many ADMs as they might have? Are we far enough away from the pandemic for airlines to revert back to 'normal' processes?
Said Flint “With the pandemic and the influx of refund requests that hit the industry, many airlines and travel agents had to shift their priorities to address the imminent workload. This directly affected operational areas such as audit, which was reflected in the time from transaction to ADM issuance.
“It is also fair to say that some airlines may have taken the commercial decision to pause their audit activities in certain areas during 2020 in view of the extraordinary pressures impacting all participants in the travel value chain. Further analysing the ADM data from the market, what can be observed is that the share of ADMs related to ‘churning’ in the first half of 2022 is similar to what was recorded in 2019. In absolute figures, however, the number of ‘churning’-related ADMs in 2022 is well down on the figure of 2019.”
Another question worth asking is this: In South Africa, with its current serious availability constraints and further constraints on the issuing of visas, is this the right time for airlines to start applying the ‘letter of the law’ when agents have to resort to extraordinary measures to enable their clients to travel?
A Cape Town-based travel agent who prefers to remain anonymous told Travel News that she had received a number of ADMs for churning from a Middle Eastern airline and an African one. “It is very difficult making bookings at the moment due to a lack of availability and the visa issue. Clients want us to confirm bookings so they don’t lose out and then they change them because a visa is not released or a domestic connecting flight cannot be confirmed. I end up having to make several bookings before a ticket is actually issued.”
Michi Messner, Qantas Regional Manager for Africa, said Qantas had indeed digressed from its standard commercial policies in the period leading up to the reintroduction of flights to South Africa. Things are getting back to normal. (These digressions included allowing passengers to hold tickets in credit from the time Qantas discontinued operations on March 27, 2020, for travel to be completed by end December 2023; and full refunds, subject to the relevant T&Cs. Fly Flexible policies allowed customers to change their travel dates as often as required, the airline waiving the change fee for a specified period.)
However, Messner warned, new bookings would be subject to the normal applicable rules and this included refund and change penalties.
