Travel Pros Must Comply with Secure Flight Rules

(Dive Travel Business News - July 7, 2010) -- A couple of airlines are warning travel agents that passenger name records (PNR's) could be cancelled or agencies debited if they fail to properly submit the appropriate data for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's Secure Flight program, the American Society of Travel Agents alerted members in a dispatch this week.

US Airways warned agents this week that beginning Nov. 1, "ticketed PNRs that do not contain proper Secure Flight data within 72 hours of departure may be cancelled," following an earlier warning from Continental Airlines, which said it could debit agencies for failing to submit Secure Flight data.

The TSA has been collecting Secure Flight data elements, including gender and date of birth, since August of last year, it said beginning Nov. 1, 2010, "TSA has threatened to return all non-compliant records to the airlines for follow-up," regardless of where the booking originated.

As it currently stands, the airlines collect Secure Flight data at the time-of-booking with all airline-direct reservations. The agency channel has the flexibility to collect Secure Flight data at any point during the reservation process as long as the data elements are added to the PNR prior to 72 hours of travel. Yet this flexibility comes at a risk, as the burden of following up with the customer and updating the PNR is on the travel agent.

Bottom line: Make sure all your PNR's are in order. Don't wait - Provide the information at the time of the airline booking.

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