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GDS Booking and Ticketing Policy

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A. Introduction

Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) has implemented the following Booking and Ticketing Policy (Policy). 

B. Application

With the exception to the provisions relating to ticketing practices in point D in this Policy, which shall apply only to those travel agents who are authorised to issue CX tickets, all other parts of this Policy shall apply to all travel agents, who make bookings and/or ticketing on air transportation on CX operated flights.

The terms and conditions set forth in this Policy shall constitute additional terms and conditions to any applicable travel agent agreement or arrangement between any travel agent and CX. The provisions of this policy and its associated practices and procedures are subject to change from time to time and at any time upon notice from CX. 

C. Booking Practices

CX hereby reserves all rights to audit all booking transactions to identify noncompliant booking practices.

I. Eliminate inventory wastage practice

  • Travel agent must not create duplicated booking in the same passenger name record (PNR) or across PNRs for the same passenger.
  • Travel agent must not create impossible travelling itineraries by holding concurrent confirmed flights on the same time period where the passenger could not travel simultaneously.
  • Travel agent must not create booking which violates the minimum connecting time requirement as defined by individual airlines.
  • Travel agent must not create any fictitious bookings including testing or training bookings that could block off CX inventories in the live GDS environment.
  • Travel agent must never create any booking / transaction for achieving productivity (incentive) target set by GDS providers.
  • Travel agent must take appropriate and timely follow-up actions for any unticketed bookings, including cancelling any reservations that have been cancelled by the customer and releasing such CX inventory.
  • Travel agent must not take longer than the average time necessary (max 40minutes) to close the sale or hold multiple segments without End of Transaction (EOT).  These are called uncommitted bookings and must be cancelled / completed in timely manner.  The number of uncommitted bookings being held, including the time they are being held for, is regularly monitored.

II. Protect Inventory Integrity

Considering following itinerary,

Segment 1 : BA761V20JUL OSLLHR
Segment 2 : CX250V20JUL LHRHKG
Segment 3 : CX406V21JUL HKGTPE
Segment 4 : CX465V28JUL TPEHKG
Segment 5 : CX251V28JUL HKGLHR

  • Always request seats on Origin and Destination (OD) basis i.e.OSLTPE instead of OSLLHR, LHRHKG, HKGTPE separately.  Then use the Short Segment sell entry to sell in bundle with complete OD in one entry.
  • Always book the itinerary in sequence from first departure OD i.e. OSLTPE
  • Travel agent must not book return flight(s) prior to first departure OD.
  • Whole PNR should be cancelled and rebooked if pax decided to change the first departure flight with different market of origin.
  • Travel agent should not cancel segment(s) that result in different market of origin no matter it is CX or non CX flight (before or after ending the booking).
    e.g. cancelling of BA761V20JUL OSLLHR in above example, departure market origin is changed from NO to GB and OD (Origin and Destination) is changed from OSLTPE to LHRTPE.  It is considered as abusive action. 
  • Travel agent must not partially cancel any * married/connection segments within a PNR.  Whole bundled segments should be cancelled if it is no longer required.
  • Do not reborn a flown segments PNR by adding new segment(s) as booking is marked with departure origin (previous flown segment) which may be different from the newly added segment.

( a reminder that action of cancelling a CX or non CX flight before ending the booking can still be detected by CX Head Office though the cancellation action does not reflect in PNR history)

*For the details of Married Segments policy please refer here

III. Minimize Distribution cost

  • Travel agent must avoid repeatedly cancelling and rebooking the same flight (also known as “churning”) to circumvent the ticket time limit or for any other reason.
  • Travel agent must not repeatedly create waitlist segment, which in any case does not increase the chance of waitlist promotion.
  • Travel agent must limit the number of waitlist segment to one segment on each identical date and sector for each passenger.
  • Travel agent must promptly remove all unwanted / cancelled/ inactive segments to the history portion of PNR.
  • Travel agent must review booking constantly and cancel all unwanted segments promptly.
  • Travel agent must use the GDS itinerary pricing function instead of creating a PNR with active segment merely for performing fare quotations.
  • Travel agent shall ensure there is no additional booking fee generated from GDS migration, such as extra cancellation or duplicate booking activities.
  • Travel agent must use GDS “Bridge and Branch” or “PNR queue” function to access the active PNR in the same GDS for ticketing purpose.
  • Travel agent must use GDS non-billable status segment for administrative activities such as itinerary printing or any back office administration.
  • Travel agent must ensure passive booking details match with those of active booking PNR.
  • Travel agent must promptly remove rejected passive segments.
  • Travel agent must request group booking via CX's local sales office directly.
  • Travel agent should always use SSR or email instead of phone call to communicate with CX on general inquiry and passenger services request.
  • Travel agent should use cxagents.com to access up-to-date information, such as news and promotions, policy and procedure.

IV. Accurate information provided in the reservation process

  • Travel agent must provide customer’s first and last names which are identical to those in the customer’s travel document.
  • Travel agent must provide passenger contact number, in the form of home telephone number, mobile number or email address to CX via the GDS phone field or SSR element. It is for ensuring CX able to contact the passenger for disruption handling.
  • Travel agent must comply with applicable government regulations and requirements and provide customer’s information of travel document on PNR as required.
  • Travel agent must use the local point of sales terminal to make reservation.
  • Travel agent must minimize name change request as it is subject to flight situation.
  • Travel agent must comply with the Name Amendment Procedure posted in Cathay Agent website. Name change without authorization will subject to penalty.  
  • Travel agent must not re-use the cancelled inventory of one customer for another customer, even if the other customer desires an identical itinerary. A new PNR must be created in such case.
  • Travel agent must action queues promptly and regularly to ensure that all the segment status codes and departure time/arrival time are updated and notify passengers of any changes as soon as possible.
  • Travel agent must use status code genuinely and avoid dummy segment status during booking creation.
  • Cathay member benefits are dedicated to the member and their travel companion(s) when travelling together with the member. Never misuse one's Cathay member status to gain privilege for other non-eligible passengers. Improper use of one's Cathay member status to abuse CX inventory and member's privilege is a serious offence.

 

D. Ticketing Policy (applicable only to authorised ticketing agents of CX)

I. Adhere to fares and ticketing requirements

  • Travel agent must always use the latest and the most up-to-date fares rather than the pre-stored fares in the PNR to issue tickets.
  • Travel agent must adhere to all IATA Fare Rules and the fare rules imposed by CX. Travel agent must ensure passengers are properly informed of such fare rules.
  • Travel agent must issue the ticket or cancel the booking before the ticket time limit.
  • Travel agent must ensure the class code booked on PNR is identical to the class code used for issuing ticket.
  • Travel agent must report genuine ticket number that is valid for travel for an associated PNR.
  • Travel agent must collect, report and accurately code all taxes, fees and charges/surcharges imposed by local and foreign countries.
  • Travel agent must always use CX document when issue tickets.
  • Travel agent must ensure fare restrictions are being complied when booking is modified after issuing ticket.
  • Travel agent must collect and report change fee imposed by CX according to fare restrictions.
  • Travel agent must collect and report penalty fee such as no-show fee imposed by CX according to fare restrictions.
  • Travel agent must ensure the free baggage allowance is correctly stated when issuing ticket.
  • Travel agent must ensure commission rate is correctly stated when issue ticket.
  • Travel agent must ensure the booking to issue ticket is not created from inventory violation such as separation of married segment.
  • Travel agent must ensure ticketing country is same as booking country when issue ticket for bookings queuing from another booking agent.

 

E. Data Privacy

  • Travel agent must comply with all applicable personal data protection laws including but not limited to the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance when handling any Personal Data for and on behalf of CX.
  • "Personal Data" shall mean any data (a) relating directly or indirectly to a living individual; (b) from which it is practicable for the identity of the individual to be directly or indirectly ascertained; and (c) in a form in which access to or processing to the data is practicable.
  • Such obligations shall include but not limited to the following:
    • Obtain consent from passengers in respect of the collection, use, processing, storage, disclosure, handling and/or transfer of personal data by the travel agent in connection with any CX services provided to such passengers (“Services”);
    • Implement adequate security, technical and organizational measures against all unauthorized, unlawful or accidental access, processing, use, erasure, loss or destruction of, or damage to, the Personal Data in accordance with all applicable personal data privacy laws;
    • Retain Personal Data for no longer than it is necessary for the performance of the travel agent’s obligations in connection with the Services; and
    • immediately notify CX of any (i) actual, potential or alleged breach of the provisions of this clause and/or (ii) enquiries from any regulatory authorities including without limitation any data protection authorities and allow CX (to the extent possible) to take control of any responses to such authorities.

 

F. Consequences for Policy Violations

Administration Fee - In addition to other legal or equitable remedies, CX reserves the right to charge travel agent an administrative service fee for each Policy violation without further notice.

Damages - In addition to the remedies set forth in this Policy, CX reserves the right to cancel booking, suspend ticket status, hold the travel agent responsible and charge for any losses and damages due to violation of this Policy by the relevant travel agent.

Loss of Access/Termination – CX further reserves the right to cease any travel agent’s access to view, book and as the case may be, ticket CX inventory and/or terminate the appointment of any travel agent that does not comply with this Policy and in such case any un-ticketed PNRs will be subject to cancellation.

 

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