DESPITE the introduction of
Iata’s new financial criteria,
Asata has been approached
by agencies that have been
asked – by airlines – to put
up guarantees, in addition to
their existing Iata guarantees,
to be able to ticket with these
specific airlines.
The new financial criteria
came into effect in March this
year and saw travel agencies
paying highly increased
minimum financial security
amounts to ticket through the
BSP.
Ceo of Asata, Otto de Vries,
says the changes adopted
in financial criteria were
based on the recommended
guidelines provided by Iata
in resolution 800F and were
passed by the Passenger
Agency Conference. He says
this meant all airlines
accepted the financial criteria
for SA’s BSP region. “Airlines
that are asking for additional
guarantees are challenging
the validity and strength of
their association’s (Iata’s)
financial criteria policy,” he
says.
MD of XL Nexus Travel,
Sailesh Parbhu, says it is not
unusual for some airlines
to ask start-up agencies for
guarantees over and above
the guarantees the airlines
may already have in place
with Iata.
“In instances where
agencies have defaulted and
eventually rectified it with
Iata, some agencies have
faced issues with airlines
where they have requested
guarantees to mitigate their
risk,” says Sailesh.
Furthermore, some airlines
might not ask for additional
guarantees but won’t allow
some agencies access to
their CIPs if they deem them
“risky businesses”, he says.
Start-up agencies aren’t
the only targets, says Marco
Cristofoli, md of Harvey World
Travel.
“Cathay, in particular, has
enquired with a few Harveys,”
he says, adding that it
seems airlines analyse each
travel agent separately to
determine their risk.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director of
Serendipity Worldwide Group,
says airlines have been
asking for extra financial
security for several years,
especially when the agency is
dealing with high volumes.
He adds that Emirates
requested a considerable
additional guarantee from
SWG.
But SWG has now
renegotiated the additional
guarantee with Emirates,
because the group decided
to move over to the Default
Insurance Programme, which
the airline feels offers greater
protection against risk than a
guarantee does.
COO corporate travel at
BidTravel, Lidia Folli, says
airlines are within their
rights to request guarantees
over and above the Iata
requested guarantee in
terms of their own credit
assessment process.
Sally George, market
development manager of
Singapore Airlines, says the
carrier does not request
additional guarantees from
South African TMCs unless
the circumstances are
exceptional.
“We will only grant ticketing
access for agents who have
been trading with an Iata
licence for more than a year
and have the potential to sell
tickets to the destinations we
operate to,” says Sally.
Agents who have not been
granted ticketing access
do, however, have options
available, says Sally, and
could either ticket through the
airline’s website on behalf of
the passenger, via another
agency or through the airline’s
ticket office.
Iata, Emirates and Cathay
Pacific were not available for
comment at the time of going
to print.
