TRAVEL agents can breathe
a sigh of relief – soon they
will not have to deal with
the Iata office in Amman. The
association is restructuring its
operations and, as a result,
issues involving the passenger
agency programme will be
handled by its headquarters in
Madrid.
Strained communication
between the Amman office
and the trade over the past
few years led to Iata claiming
that agencies had defaulted
on payments and sometimes
even blacklisting them for
minor administrative hiccups.
Travel agents cited language
barriers with Amman and
restricted business hours as
the main stumbling blocks.
eTravel’s fd, Shaun Stober,
says the Amman office’s
closure on a Friday affected
agencies with urgent
queries. “They would open
on a Sunday, which doesn’t
really help non-Middle East
countries,” he says, adding
that the unsynchronised office
hours were also not ideal.
Spokesperson for Iata,
Katherine Kaczynska
told TNW that Iata was
restructuring the operations
of its Financial Settlement
Systems in preparation for
major product and service
enhancements with the
introduction of New Generation
Iata Settlement Systems
(NewGen ISS). According to
Iata, NewGen ISS will deliver
faster, safer and more costeffective
and relevant financial
settlement services and
solutions to airlines and travel
agents.
Katherine says the new
Global Delivery Centres
(GDC) in Madrid, Singapore
and Montreal will offer more
intense customer support than
could be achieved within the
current structure. SA agents’
queries will be handled by the
GDC in Madrid.
The new structure will
eventually offer 24/7 support
and ensure that all time zones
are covered. It is expected
to be fully functional by next
year. In the interim, Iata says
existing service levels will be
maintained and progressively
enhanced.
Whether the move will make
South African travel agents’
lives easier remains to be
seen.
“It’s difficult to pass
judgement on how successful
the decision to move the
agency programme will
be as we need to give
Iata the opportunity to
execute it. But on paper it
sounds encouraging and
we hope it will improve the
communications and the
relations with agents on the
ground and Iata in general,”
says Otto de Vries, ceo of
Asata.
Lidia Folli, ceo of BidTravel,
says the main benefit of an
office in Madrid is that it is in
the same time zone as South
Africa.
Shaun agrees and says
the synchronisation of office
hours is advantageous from
an efficiency perspective. He
warns that there might be a
possible language conflict
with both verbal and written
communication.
“It depends on how they
set up the support structure
in Madrid, as the location is
less important than the quality
of the communications and
support structure,” says
Ben Langner, md of CWT.
Rachael Penaluna, business
manager of Sure Maritime
Travel, agrees and says
some travel agents currently
communicate with Iata through
its online portal. “It’s been
very effective for our agency
in the last eight months or so.
The Iata ICE facility also
enables us to check if our
payment has been received
and allocated correctly.”
Although Shaun agrees
that the portal works well, he
says a fast-track option would
assist in escalating issues
that require urgent responses
and real-time solutions.
“Common practice with
multinational helpdesk set-ups
is to have two or three helpdesk
offices servicing different
time zones during operating
hours, ensuring availability to
other time zones after hours.”
Ben adds: “When a travel
company is faced with the
crisis of ticketing rights being
suspended, it’s a businesscritical
matter. A telephone
call to a competent Iata staff
member with appropriate
authority to deal promptly and
effectively with the matter
would provide the immediacy
of communication required
when managing such a
serious event.”
While the Financial
Settlement Systems functions
of the Amman office are being
transferred to the new GDC
in Madrid, Iata says it will
continue to have a regional
presence in Johannesburg,
Nairobi, Lagos, Dakar, Cairo
and Casablanca.
