ACTA Actively Engaged in IATA Meetings Regionally and Globally

IATA advocacy meetings was the focus this past week, that started with the 8th Canada Travel Fraud Prevention Group Meeting co-hosted by ACTA and IATA. The full day session held in downtown Toronto covered updates on the following: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the shift in liability from the merchant back to the credit card issuer provided through the implementation of 3DS, insurance fraud at home and abroad, credit card chargebacks and first party fraud, and the global airport action days. More details from the full day can be found here.

The following day was the semi-annual meeting of the Agency Program Joint Council (APJC). ACTA sits on this Regional (Canada and Bermuda) Council with equal representation between retailers and airlines. ACTA’s appointed agency representation includes:

  • Angela Dexter, Vice President Finance, Maritime Travel,
  • Liz Fleming, General Manager from North South Travel,
  • Nadia Giudice, Vice President Independent Contractor Management and Development from Direct Travel,
  • Dianne Jackson, Vice President, Retail at Red Label Vacations,
  • Georgina Kearney, Finance Director and Tatjana Pandza, Director Leisure Accounting both from Travel Edge,
  • Michael Kulbak, Senior Director of Finance from Carlson Wagonlit Travel,
  • Sam Patel, Director from Airnets, and
  • Sherry Scott, Vice President, Government Affairs at Amex Global Business Travel.   

The meeting covered discussions on opportunities for dual currency in BSP Canada, a new TIDS and IATA accreditation comparison document (see here) that can assist members in clearly understanding the new models and what is required under each, updates on NewGen ISS and New Distribution Capability (NDC) and market performance. The meeting also allowed the local market to review the documents that are being presented to global airlines at their annual Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf), held in Geneva this week. ACTA participated in the open session of PAConf. The open session is a relatively new concept that allows attendance from the Travel Agents Associations, GDSs and other industry association to address topics and agenda items on the Conference agenda. One of the more contentious items for discussion was the change made by the airlines at the 2018 PAConf to Resolution 830d that mandates agents to collect customer contact information for the provision of airlines to communicate to customers during irregular operations. It is not to be used for the purpose of sales and marketing. As noted in August 16th edition of ACTAVision, there have been reports of misuse in some countries of this customer contact information to which IATA has acknowledged receipt of these complaints.

It was agreed at the Conference that a working group would be formed of equal representation of travel agents and airlines to better script Resolution 830d with consideration to privacy laws in certain jurisdictions. This suggestion was proposed from discussions held on October 21st at the Passenger Agency Programme Global Joint Council (PAPGJC), an assembly of global Travel Agency associations, airlines and IATA. The focus at this meeting was IATA’s presentation on NDC and all the related IATA initiatives and streams that are connected including:

  • Dynamics Offers,
  • NDC and One Order,
  • IATA EasyPay, NewGen ISS, Transparency in Payment and Settlement with Orders,
  • One ID, and
  • Digital Finance

In light of the ongoing development of this technology “monster”, the travel agency association representatives specifically asked for this presentation to fully understand the involvement from the travel agency community. We now know the “why” for the initiatives; however, we’re still looking for the “how” in our involvement. The travel agency representatives were assured that this will be shared.


(Pictured above: Delegates from the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) from the markets of South America (Brazil), Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Europe (Denmark), Canada and Hong Kong.)

While not all members are IATA appointed agencies, many agencies still make air bookings through other distribution channels and consequently, it is essential that ACTA is at the meeting table with IATA's members, the airlines, ensuring that the issues of the agency community are heard and recognized.

ACTA will continue to provide you with updates on these important industry initiatives.