Agents have reported an increase in Emirates ADMs after the airline began clamping down on out-of-sequence bookings in August.
The carrier announced more stringent checks for out-of-sequence bookings on Travelinfo on August 8.
eTNW understands that Emirates implemented more stringent checks to deter agents who make these bookings to access different flight availability.
Availability is determined by the fares of the origin country. There would be different availability to an agent based in South Africa compared with an agent based in the UK, for example. If an SA agent was to book out of sequence in this context, they would book the London-Johannesburg flight before the Johannesburg-London flight, thereby accessing the availability associated with the UK-based fare.
eTNW understands that Emirates has also introduced a warning box that pops up when an agent is about to make an out-of-sequence booking. This will notify the agent that they will receive an ADM if they continue. At this point the agent can cancel the booking without consequence.
