New consumer rules unveiled
After three years of internal study and debate, the DOT has released a package of proposals to impose additional consumer-protection rules on airlines and travel agents. Read More
Following a prolonged and sometimes acrimonious industry debate, the Transportation Department on Wednesday proposed to approve IATA’s controversial Resolution 787, a global airline agreement to develop new XML messaging standards for third-party sales channels.
In a show-cause order, the DOT generally agreed with IATA that new messaging standards could facilitate innovation in air travel marketing and enhance the shopping experience for consumers by enabling “improved comparison shopping” of ancillary services as well as fares.
One practice that the resolution would facilitate is the presentation of customized offers to agency clients or OTA users, based on information the traveler agreed to share, such as a basic profile, frequent-flyer status and buying history. IATA has argued that air travel distribution lags behind the rest of Internet commerce in its ability to facilitate such merchandising.
The DOT said it is prepared to approve the resolution, with conditions, subject to a final exchange of public comments. Industry parties have 21 days, or until June 11, to file comments. Answers to the comments are due June 20. Online comments can be filed at www.regulations.gov, referencing DOT-OST-2013-0048.
The conditions imposed by the DOT draw largely on a list of conditions proposed by IATA that were designed to appease opponents of the IATA agreement, who feared it could force the industry into a new distribution regime.
For example, some agents and agent organizations, including ASTA, expressed fears that IATA was asking the DOT to approve a new selling environment that would eliminate anonymous shopping and impinge on consumer privacy rights by requiring shoppers to disclose personal information in order to get the best deal.
Among the conditions proposed by IATA and accepted by DOT are stipulations that:
• Approval of Resolution 787 does not constitute DOT approval of any distribution “method or business model.”
• IATA airlines are not required to use any particular data transmission standard.
• Nothing in the agreement inhibits distributors of air transportation from using other data standards in combination with any standards developed under Resolution 787.
• The agreement does not require the disclosure by any passenger of personal information of any kind.
The DOT added its own language that any exchange of passengers’ personal information must comply with the privacy policy of the airline or ticket agent receiving the information.