Business Travel Association Spring Conference 202 Continued from page 56


airlines, noting it was “startling that an air traffic control problem that was fixed within seven hours caused so many cancellations and delays… for so long”. The CAA estimates more


than 300,000 passengers suffered flight cancellations, 95,000 delays of more than three hours and 300,000 shorter delays, with “the worst affected those already in airports”. The report notes: “Many


complained about the shortage of visible and informed staff at airports, and the absence of clear airport announcements. There also seems to have been some misinformation about passenger rights.” It concludes “several


factors” delayed “identification and rectification of the failure”, including that there was “no single post holder with accountability for overall management of the incident”, and “a lack of clear documentation identifying system connectivity”. It found it was “common


practice on public holidays for staff to be available on standby” when “major operations, such as a full system restart, cannot be performed remotely”. The report also identified “a


significant lack of pre-planning and coordination for major events and incidents”, and although it suggests a recurrence is “highly unlikely”, it warns “a different set of factors could create a similar scenario without improvements to resilience planning”. The final report due


later this year is expected to recommend greater oversight by the CAA.


Adonis: Current policies ‘won’t improve’ railways


The UK’s railways are under severe financial stress, face “upheaval” and government policies, including creation of a Great British Railways body, “won’t make much difference”, according to former transport secretary Lord Andrew Adonis.


Addressing the Business Travel


Association (BTA) spring conference earlier this month, he said: “The annual rail subsidy is about £12 billion. Before the pandemic, it was £2 billion. That gives you some idea of the financial stress. “The question is whether the


railways can stage a recovery. I believe they will, but it won’t be by the policies this government has put forward.” The new state-owned Great


British Railways (GBR), modelled


on Transport for London, is intended to take over Network Rail, but the Rail Reform Bill required to establish this is not scheduled in the current Parliament. Adonis warned of a period


of “upheaval” that “won’t lead to improvement”, saying: “The pressures will still be there.” Yet he assured the BTA that the


HS2 high-speed rail project “will happen” despite the government cancelling the planned link beyond Birmingham last October.


Beware risks of using AI for personalised offers


Travel companies using generative AI to make personalised offers to customers need to treat the output as ‘personal data’ under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and inform clients. That is according to commercial


and regulatory lawyer Lucy England of Fox Williams, who told the Business Travel Association (BTA) spring conference in London: “A lot of travel management companies [TMCs] are using generative AI for personalised offers [and] that is a hot one for GDPR compliance.” She warned: “If what goes in are


personal preferences, what comes out will be classed as personal data. You need to treat anything to do with [customer] preferences as personal data.” England said: “Different types


of [AI] technology lead to different results. Machine learning technology analyses data. Generative AI produces new content that can be used as data.” She told the BTA: “Generative AI is different because of the amount


54 21 MARCH 2024 Lucy England


of data and because it’s so powerful. You need to be aware of personal data going into the technology and personal data coming out. Is it sanitised data? Is it policed? Does content go back out to the internet?” England warned users of


ChatGPT not to input personal data. “Let customers know, ‘We’re using AI as part of this service’.” She cited a recent legal case


involving Air Canada where an airline chatbot provided passenger information that differed from the carrier’s stated policy. The airline “tried to argue it had no liability” but “the court trashed that”, England said.


Travlaw senior partner Matt


Gatenby agreed “you need a policy” for AI use. “If you produce something that causes harm, you’re going to be responsible for it,” he said. “You’ve got to have a process in place. If you’re using data, it can go off the rails if an employee does something daft.” Sheena Varma, American Express


Global Business Travel chief privacy officer and senior counsel, said: “Understand what you’re trying to achieve and what data is required to achieve that. Then figure out the risks. You need the right level of safeguards and a holistic view of provider contracts.”


travelweekly.co.uk


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