Global Application of Conditions Imposed by US DOT on Approval of IATA NDC
In August 2014, ACTA reported to our members that we were pleased with the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) decision of August 6, 2014 approving IATA Resolution 787 subject to conditions that IATA had agreed with Open Allies for Airfare Transparency. (Resolution 787 has also been called New Distribution Capability or NDC by IATA.)
However, we also alerted you then to a potential open issue. That question was whether these conditions had application worldwide or only to sales made in the United States. We are happy to advise you that working as part of the Open Allies coalition, ACTA has received satisfactory assurances from the IATA General Counsel by way of a letter to Open Allies that all the US DOT-imposed safeguards do indeed have global effect. Thus, we can be confident that Canadian travel agencies and consumers will enjoy the protections embodied in these conditions.
By way of a reminder, the most critical provisions of the conditions the US DOT imposed and what they mean for Canadian travel agencies and consumers can be summarized as follows:
1. US DOT declined to approve any new business model for airline sales
US DOT Condition: The US DOT said that its approval of Resolution 787 "does not constitute approval of any agreement among IATA member airlines regarding any method or business model of distributing air transportation..." The US DOT cautioned that "Approval of Resolution 787 was limited to the creation of an XML communication standard that will permit airlines individually to enhance distribution of their products." The US DOT further stated that, "Any future agreement among IATA member airlines regarding business models for the distribution of air transportation shall not be implemented without prior compliance with any applicable government approval or notification process."
Impact: IATA member airlines have received no approval by the US or any other government for any agreement they might reach to change the current transparent distribution model, a model where travel agencies can shop for the best prices across multiple airlines for consumers without consumers first having to surrender personal information.
2. Consumer privacy and anonymous shopping have been protected
US DOT Condition: DOT explicitly said that its approval of Resolution 787 did not "constitute approval of any agreement among IATA member airlines to require the disclosure by any passenger of personal information of any kind." In addition, DOT stated its approval of Resolution 787 by DOT was "conditioned on the airline or ticket agent that is requesting and receiving the personal information of the buyer of air transportation following its privacy policy in effect at the time the request is made for the sharing and storage of personal information."
Impact: IATA carriers have not received approval from any government to require that passengers provide personal information as a condition for being quoted travel options. Thus consumer privacy rights and the right to anonymous shopping have been preserved by the US DOT decision.
3. Compatibility of any new IATA XML standard with existing standards
US DOT Condition: The US DOT said that “any communications or message standards or protocols developed under Resolution 787 shall be open standards, meaning useable by distributors of air transportation and intermediaries in the distribution of air transportation, including CRSs and other aggregators, on a non-discriminatory basis." DOT also explained that "Nothing in its approval of Resolution 787 should be deemed to be an approval of any restriction on backwards compatibility of the proposed new XML standard with the standards currently in use."
Impact: Travel agencies and other intermediaries (such as GDSs) cannot be restricted from using, if they choose, whatever new XML standards IATA carriers might develop for the sale of air transportation. Nor do IATA carriers have any government approval for any agreement they might reach to develop communications standards that do not interoperate with communications standards used by the booking systems that travel agencies use today.
Should you have questions or comments about this important development, please let us know.
