BRIAN Caddle is a Corporate Manager from Reho Travel.
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ADMs (Agent Debit Memos) have long been a pain point within the travel industry.
Any consultant dreads the email notification of a pending ADM, wondering what they may have done wrong and how much is potentially coming out of their pockets for those on a commission-based structure.
The relief is immense when we discover it’s not our fault, stumbling across the notes and names of those we spoke to at the airline when trying to complete the complex reissue six months earlier to dispute.
My big concern for the agency network is ADMs issued from airlines because of ticket reissues during this COVID period.
As an agent we deal with many airlines who each have their own commercial policies that have been applied to COVID affected bookings.
Not only has each airline put in place their own policy, they have constantly changed over the past few months with new conditions including the use of waiver codes, no waiver codes, OSI remarks, travel date restrictions, and validity extensions to name a few.
To say there has been confusion is an understatement and trying to clarify with airlines which policy to use with limited resources available has been impossible at times.
Our agency has started to see a trickle of ADMs come through for incorrect waiver codes during the current climate, and I fear this is only the beginning.
No doubt there will be numerous tickets that have been reissued by travel agents during this COVID period that fall into this category.
The manic nature of flight cancellations and rebooking or refunding affected travellers at the start of this pandemic is reason enough to excuse a missing waiver code.
Such ADMs will only continue to penalise agencies, many of which will not be able to continue losing money through no fault of their own.
Although a hit to the bottom line, an ADM for not collecting applicable fare difference, change fees and taxes where an airline is losing revenue can be justified.
However, an airline is not financially impacted in any way by tickets being issued without a waiver code.
Although agencies have effectively been denied a revenue stream with limited products to sell and travel restrictions continuing to play their part, airlines do have the ability to earn an income through cargo and minimal passengers on board, albeit at reduced levels at this time.
Travel agencies have spent numerous hours and helped all airlines immensely in re-accommodating and re-booking passengers on affected flights during the COVID pandemic, and continue to do so, often providing the service free of charge.
Without agency assistance thousands of travellers would still be chasing airlines directly for refunds, to rebook or simply asking what options they have available to them. For an airline to fine an agency in the form of an ADM during this current climate does not sit well with me, with many in the industry no doubt feeling the same way.
Do we look to have restrictions applied to airlines and how they can issue ADMs for tickets affected by COVID? Perhaps a ban on ADMs for a ticket issued during this pandemic, or at the very least limit the number of ADMs allowed for COVID-affected bookings? Agencies can’t afford to constantly lie down and accept what the airlines throw at us, industry bodies need to start a conversation now before the avalanche of ADMs come through and we are all scrambling to dispute these and avoid further financial pain.
COVID has thrown many challenges to our industry, with many agencies having closed their doors for good or barely getting by with little to no revenue. The airline industry has also suffered in a big way due to travel restrictions and border closures in place.
Now more than ever is a time when airlines and the agency network need to come together and work through the challenges we are all facing. Airlines have long referred to travel agencies as their partner and need to show understanding and compassion during this period when looking to process ADMs.
This will only help grow our partnership as restrictions are eased and the world begins to travel again.
The post We did you a favour, so where’s the airline waiver? appeared first on Travel Daily.
Source: traveldaily