FY17_Auto-Cancellation_Implementation_Profile_Template.docx

Recommendations for Airline and TMC 48-hr Messaging Coordination January 2016

Preface GSA’s Center for Travel Management would like to obtain a more detailed understanding of your carrier’s plans to implement the 48 hour auto cancellation allowed for CPP during the FY17 contract period. Our goal is to facilitate the ETS and TMC vendor community in their preparations to accommodate the upcoming changes, providing the traveler notifications that will be necessary to avoid unintended flight cancellations or travelers arriving at airport without tickets.

To minimize impact to TMCs attributable to the 48-hr rule change requested by the airlines, it will be advantageous for the ETS vendors and/or TMCs to be able to employ automation tools at their disposal to advise government travelers of the new terms applicable to CPP fares and to ensure that travelers get prompt notifications of all cancellations made by airlines when the 48 hour rule takes affect with FY17 reservations.

Unfortunately, the use of such automation by the ETS vendors and/or TMCs will only be possible with support. Detailed information about each carrier’s plans for presenting its fare rule changes in the GDS and the formats to be used documenting affected PNRs will be necessary in order for such automation to be enabled by TMCs.

Goal The information you provide should enable TMCs to provide the following important traveler notifications associated with the CPP change:

1. Notification on Itinerary (Itinerary Remark) - Notify the traveler that recent changes to fare rules may result in cancellation if the reservation is not ticketed at least 48 hours prior to scheduled departure.

1. Notification Prior to Ticketing Window (Email Message) - Follow-up traveler notification, 72 hours prior to travel, emailed to travelers whose reservation has not yet been traveled.

In the event of actual cancellation by the airline, TMCs should notify the traveler and provide instructions to remediate, if necessary:

· Notification of Cancellation (Email Message) – Upon receipt of carrier-provided cancellation notice via the GDS, TMC shall email (or otherwise contact) the affected traveler(s) notifying him/her of cancelled flight(s) and provide instructions to: attempt rebooking of the affected segments; cancel the balance of the affected PNR; or arrange travel for a replacement itinerary.

Note that while the TMCs’ ability to fulfill the first two traveler notifications, are not dependent on the mode or format of carrier-provided notifications, arguably the most important notification (Notification of Cancellation) can only be achieved in conjunction with carrier provided messaging and delivery, consistently applied.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to provide this important information.

Request for Additional Information Screen Captures To minimize traveler inconvenience, it is important that airlines help TMCs employ software enabled automation to perform some or most of the tasks triggered by carrier-implemented actions and PNR messages relating to this change. The information you deliver in response to this request will be crucial to enabling TMCs to maximize its use of automation to minimize the need for costly manual PNR processing. Depending on the tools being utilized by TMCs, and their respective method of interfacing with each GDS, specific requirements for detailed information may differ among the affected parties; however, by providing GDS screen captures of the requested elements should satisfy the requirements for most to implement the automated, or automation assisted traveler notifications desired.

Please Note: In order for the ETS vendors and TMCs to successfully implement the necessary automation to deliver required traveler notifications, it is crucial that the information you provide accurately defines the actions as they will be carried out by your carrier and the examples you provide in the form of GDS screen captures, precisely depict the content and formatting of all PNR messaging and changes to the fare rules necessitated by this change.

Placement of Restriction Content at the Time of Booking:

Placement of Restriction:

Text to be added to Category 5 Fare Rules (if applicable) Please provide a screen capture of the fare rules associated with CPP fare types as they will appear effective 01 October 2016. If the text to be used or the format of the text is presented differently in one or more GDSs please submit (or insert) a screen capture for each of the following GDS:

Apollo (Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre (Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan (Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

Carrier Appended Messages at the Time of Booking (if applicable) Notification:

Please provide a screen capture of the OSI/SSR message to be inserted by your carrier’s automation system at the time of booking of reservations for travel commencing on or after 01 October 2016. To account for any differences in message content or formatting associated with the booking GDS, please submit (or insert) a captured screen image of a test/sample PNR including the OSI/SSR message that will be inserted by your carrier at the time of booking. In addition, define the queue/category of the originating pseudo city into which you will place each updated PNR, for the following GDSs:

For Reservations Booked More than 72 Hours Prior to Commencement of Travel The following examples presume a scheduled departure date of 21OCT16 at 8:10AM Apollo Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

For Reservations Booked Between 72 Hours and 48 Hours Prior to Travel Travel Booked between 72 and 48 hours of departure:

The following examples presume a scheduled departure date of 21OCT16 at 8:10AM Apollo Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

For Reservations Booked 48 Hours or Less than 48 Hours Prior to Travel (if different) Travel booked within 48 hours of departure:

Apollo Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Booking Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

Notification Upon Cancellation by Carrier:

In order to enable proper notification to government travelers by government-contracted TMCs, CPP Carriers implementing auto-cancellation of qualifying PNRs are asked to provide timely, properly and consistently formatted notification of all carrier implemented cancellations of unticketed reservations performed within 48 hours of departure, pursuant to the revised terms governing CPP fares.

Please provide a screen capture of the OSI/SSR reservation cancellation notice to be inserted by your carrier’s automation system at the time of cancellation by your carrier of unticketed reservations for travel commencing on or after 01 October2016. To account for any differences in message content or formatting associated with the booking GDS, please submit (or insert) a captured screen image of a test/sample PNR including the OSI/SSR message that will be inserted by your carrier at the time of booking. In addition, for the following GDSs, define the queue/category of the PNR’s originating pseudo city into which you will place each updated PNR:

For Reservations Booked More than 72 Hours Prior to Commencement of Travel The following examples presume a scheduled departure date of 21OCT16 at 8:10AM Apollo Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

For Reservations Booked Between 72 Hours and 48 Hours Prior to Travel The following examples presume a scheduled departure date of 21OCT16 at 8:10AM Apollo Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

For Reservations Booked 48 Hours or Less than 48 Hours Prior to Travel The following examples presume a scheduled departure date of 21OCT16 at 8:10AM Apollo Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Sabre Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here) Worldspan Cancellation Notification:

(Reference attached image file or insert screen capture here)

GSA Source Selection Sensitive