Update: Agents at the mercy of Iata’ – Iata responds

In the article published last week (Nov 16), TNW reported that Iata had been contacted for comment
and had not given a response. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication issues, Iata had not been given
the right to reply. TNW apologises for the error. This is Iata’s response on the issue of miscommunication
between travel agents and Iata: “Iata engages regularly with travel agents on common issues and concerns
through the APJCs and PAPGJC forums. Iata is focused on improving procedures and we’ve recently
upgraded our reconciliation tool launched on October 22 and ensure telephone calls are made to agents
before any actions are taken. Iata has mechanisms agents can use to monitor the status of their BSP and
to notify us if they believe an error may have occurred. Efforts to bring more value to our relationship with
the travel agency community also include our global campaign engaging airlines, travel agents and GDSs
to reduce the frequency of ADMs,” a spokesperson for Iata said.