IATA has responded to the trade’s outcry against changes made this month to Resolution 830d, reasserting the importance of sharing customer contact details with airlines to avoid disruption to clients’ journeys in the event offlight delays. Iata was responding to a story, ‘New Iata resolution strong arms agents’ inTNW dated June 5, 2019. Resolution 830d was initially introduced back in January 2015, but as a recommended practice, nota mandated one, pointsout Iata. In response to allegations from the trade that airlines
would make use of the shared personal information to market flights directly to agents’ clients, Iata’s position was clear that this was not permitted. “The resolution specifically directs that airlines ‘shall use these contact details exclusively for the purpose of operational notifications, e.g. flight cancellation, schedule change, etc. and shall not use the contact details for sales and marketing purposes’,” said Perry Flint, Iata spokespersonin Washington DC. “Many different typesof personal informationare already being collected by travel agents during the reservation process, and the information described
in Resolution 830d is no different. “Following the resolution’s introduction in 2015, Iata led awareness activities about the collection of customer contact information,” said Perry, who explained that significant customer service issues could arise when operational matters affected a passenger’s journey and the airline could not communicate these in advance of the passenger’s arrival at the airport. “This remains a significant issue impacting customers. Airlines are often unable to contact passengers within the operational window, leaving passengers without information related to their flights,” he added.
