p39 jenny Nov13 10/11/09 14:01 Page 39
ttglive.com
knowledge
Jenny Ley-Meek “We have been
horrified to receive calls from clients
who have been charged £5 at the
airport for ‘failing to input their API’”
S
upplying Advanced Passenger meaning we have no proof that this process
Information (API) to airlines has has been completed without problems.
for many months now become Not surprisingly, when a client writes to
part of the norm when making a complain that they have been charged,
booking. If you are lucky enough to have and we approach the airline, it is our
clients on the other end of the phone word against theirs that we
who have their passports to hand have done our job and supplied
as you are taking their reservation, the required information on
then submitting their details behalf of our customer.
online is much less time And you can all guess
consuming. the outcome of that
I won’t deny that we moan dispute!
about having to collect and Charging customers
process passenger APIs – after all at the airport for not
it creates an awful lot of extra supplying information
work, especially if the customer that is readily available on
doesn’t have their details to hand their passports at check-in is
and we have to arrange a call-back time not a good way to encourage
when they’ve dug out their passport. people to travel. However, to
However, since the Home Office stipulates ensure greater security and greater
the information is necessary to ensure efficiency, I have absolutely no issue getting
greater security, effectiveness and efficiency this laborious job done prior to my client’s
of the UK’s borders, then we’re happy to departure. But just as these airlines send
adhere to the requests to supply this us automated reminders to input this
information on behalf of our clients. data, they must ensure we are receiving
But this month we have been horrified to confirmation that we have.
receive calls from clients who have been
charged £5 per sector at the airport by one
particular airline, bmibaby, for “failing to
input their API prior to departure”.
Yet when we check our back-office
administration system, for most of these
bookings the APIs have in fact been
completed successfully online.
However, what we have noted with ■ Bmibaby’s response: Letters, p32
this airline is that we no longer receive
an email confirming that passengers’ Jenny Ley-Meek works for homeworking
details have been submitted – company Superior Travel
13.11.2009 39
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