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Pestronk Mark
Q: In your May 15 Legal Briefing column, “Nasty Surprises at AA Extra,” you pointed out the new rules related to the filing of NDC fares, and noted the automatic payment ban. Have you noticed any other rules that trip advisors typically prohibit on US-served routes?
A: A 13-page, single-spaced “Addendum to Administrative Travel Agency Agreements” is as far as the ARC Agreement is concerned. It gives many new rights to the service provider and prohibits many agency activities.
“American has the right, with reasonable prior notice, to enter any agency premises to: (i) inspect the agent’s books and records relating to the sale of US goods and services and to ensure compliance with the agency agreement and (ii) audit agent compliance with US laws relating to the sale of travel in the US, agency exemptions and books and records to identify or establish agent abuse or non-compliance with any terms of the Agreement, including reduced travel, agency incentives, promotion or cancellation programs.
So if you are a home based agency, American can come to your home and inspect your records.
“American may use information from ARC or IATA to evaluate the creditworthiness of the agent and the agent’s employees and owners.”
Therefore, the carrier may determine that you or your employees are not creditworthy and may be prohibited from selling American tickets.
Although neither ARC nor any government agency requires you to list all of your employees and ICs, American may require you to:
“At American’s request, the Agent shall provide to American a complete and accurate list of all of its Agents (including IATA and office identifiers/false city codes) and the method of payment used by the Agent’s agents.”
“Representatives” is defined to include employees and ICs.
In some cases, you may not be able to charge a fee for a refund:
“Agent shall not, directly or indirectly, promote services that retain a portion of the compensation for American-bound passengers in the event of flight delays or other circumstances. . . . In addition, when American refunds a passenger for a ticket booked by an agent, the agent shall not withhold the refund or any portion thereof from the passenger.”
Specifically targeted are activities that travel management companies have traditionally performed to assist their corporate clients. In addition to the already stated ban on automated repetition, the addendum reads:
“Agent agrees not to request, obtain, or use AAdvantage Program account login credentials. . . . However, Agent may use the traveler’s AAdvantage Program identification number only to make or reserve a reservation.”
Therefore, you cannot register all account employees and use the miles for the benefit of the corporate client.
American defines “American Data” to include booking information, and prohibits you from “using American Data for the business purposes of the Agent or its Affiliates other than to fulfill the Agent’s services to its customers.”
So, literally, you can’t compile airline verification reports for internal purposes, like figuring out how to sell the information outside of the US.
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