Published on : Thursday, June 5, 2014
You may have heard that in late May, the U.S. Department of Transportation tentatively approved an IATA agreement called Resolution 787. IATA has described that Resolution at times as the “foundational document” for something IATA labeled New Distribution Capability (or NDC for short) and at other times as only an agreement to develop a new common, communications standard (called XML).
We are very pleased to report that ACTA was an active participant in the negotiations with IATA and various stakeholders that lead to a series of agreed limitations on Resolution 787, conditions that the parties then asked DOT to impose. And we welcome the tentative decision of the DOT because it incorporates all of those mutually-agreed limitations.
We write to tell you what that preliminary DOT ruling means to ACTA members – and to Canadian consumers. First and foremost, the conditions that DOT has expressly adopted for Resolution 787 worldwide leave no doubt that, as approved, Resolution 787 is only an agreement for IATA airlines to work together to develop a possible new communications standard. You may be interested in knowing that the relevant condition in the DOT order states:
“Approval of Resolution 787 does not constitute approval (our underlining) of any agreement among IATA airlines regarding any method or business model of distributing air transportation nor restrict the use of any channels available for the distribution of air transportation, including indirect distribution by other than airlines.”
This limitation on the Resolution addresses the concern expressed from many quarters that on its face Resolution 787 appeared to represent an agreement by airlines to replace the current, pro-consumer transparent distribution model – where all consumers can shop anonymously for published and broadly available fares – with a new one where every fare would be “customized,” with each price depending exactly on who the requester was and who was asking on the customer’s behalf.
Second and on a related note, the DOT made abundantly clear that it was not approving any agreement that would require consumers (or their travel agencies on their behalf) to surrender personal data in order to shop for travel. Specifically, the DOT said:
“Approval of IATA Resolution 787 does not constitute approval (our underlining) of any agreement among IATA member airlines to require the disclosure by any passenger of personal information of any kind.”
So, there can be no doubt that as approved by the U.S. DOT, Resolution 787 cannot justify any requirement by any airline that our customers hand over personal data to obtain fare or schedule quotes. In fact, U.S. DOT was so committed to protecting the fundamental rights of privacy and anonymously shopping that it went on to say:
“We want to make clear our determination that consumers’ ability to shop anonymously must not be undermined as new data standards and distribution practices are implemented, whether as a function of an industry agreement on data standards and protocols or through implementation of such standards by individual airlines and ticket agents. Our tentative approval of IATA’s agreement, as conditioned, should not be construed as approval for individual airlines to require disclosure of personal data.”
There were other conditions that DOT also imposed on Resolution 787 pursuant to the agreement with IATA. These conditions will ensure that any new communications standard the IATA carriers might ultimately adopt will be “open standards” useable by distributors of air transportation (such as travel agents) on a non-discriminatory basis. They will also assure that the decision of any person or entity on whether to use that new standard would be entirely voluntary.
We believe that the U.S. DOT will issue a final decision in the coming weeks confirming this tentative ruling (our underlining). We will of course keep you apprised of any further developments. But the bottom line is through negotiations with IATA, ACTA and other stakeholders were able to strike a mutually-acceptable agreement that protects the interests of ACTA members to operate efficiently and effectively and the rights of their clients to privacy and robust comparison shopping.
Source:- ACTA
Tags: ACTA
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