Redefined no-show policies another ‘money-making racket’?

A RECENT spate of ADMs
relating to no-show penalty
collections has taken
agents by surprise.
In many cases, no-show
penalties are no longer
confined to passengers who do
not show up for flights. Agents
say airlines have slipped these
definition changes into fare
rules without informing the
trade.
Nicolene Van Blerk, BSP
team leader for Club Travel,
says a handful of airlines,
including British Airways, have
recently changed their definition
of when no-show penalties
must be applied. Moreover, she
says Club Travel only became
aware of BA’s policy when it
received an ADM.
However, a spokesperson
from British Airways said it
had last amended its no-show
policy in November 2016 and
that agents were informed the
day before. He said, rather than
having to purchase a new ticket
in the case of a no-show, the
new policy allowed customers
to rebook by paying a no-show
fee.
The fare rules now state that
a no-show penalty also applies
if a ticket is not reissued or
submitted for a refund before
the original date of travel.
“In the past, if a passenger
needed to cancel or amend
their booking during the
weekend, before their flight
on a Monday, the consultant
would cancel out the seat and
provisionally rebook if needed.
During office hours the next
week the consultant would
submit the ticket for refund
or reissue the ticket,” said
Nicolene.
She said, according to the
new definitions, a cancellation
or amendment penalty would
need to be collected in
addition to a no-show penalty
if the ticket wasn’t reissued or
submitted for refund before the
original travel date.
Nicolene described the policy
as a “money-making racket”,
pointing out that airlines were
charging for no-shows even
when the seats had been
released ahead of time.
A Johannesburg-based
Tourvest ITC had a similar
issue with Turkish Airlines. Her
client was admitted to hospital
on a Sunday but had been
scheduled to fly to the UK the
following day.
When she began to reissue
the ticket on Monday, she
noticed in the small print of the
ruling that a no-show penalty
would apply in addition to
the normal amendment fee
because the ticket was being
reissued on the date of original
travel. She requested a waiver
but the airline insisted that
both penalties stood. “My client
was furious and has boycotted
the airline since.”
Air Mauritius has had a policy
of charging no-show fees for
about five years, for changes
within 24 hours before flight
departure.
Carla da Silva, regional
general manager Southern
Africa and Latin America for Air
Mauritius, explains the reason
for the charge: “Within 24
hours of departure the flight is
in airport mode and therefore
catering, seating and other
factors are already determined
and affected for the respective
flight.
“Meals, as an example,
are ordered in accordance
with passenger loads. At this
stage the seat is also no
longer available for sale via
any distribution channel. This,
therefore, prevents an airline
from re-selling the seat and
when a passenger does not
arrive for the flight, the airline
does not collect its money,”
said Carla.
“Airlines have very low profit
margins and, as a result, costs
are tightly monitored. There are
a multitude of costs associated
with each and every flight
departure,” said Carla.
Turkish Airlines had not
responded to a request for
comment at time of going
to print.