Agency Debit Memo (ADM) Policy

Effective 1 August 2017

Introduction

Ellinair  (EL)Agency Debit Memo (ADM) Policy is intended to make clear to BSP accredited travel agents (Agent) the circumstances under which ADMs will be issued and the frame in which the EL applies.

An ADM will be issued to notify the Agent that, unless evidence exists to the contrary, the Agent owes the Airline the amount shown on the ADM for the reasons indicated below.

EL ADM applies to all GDS users: accredited travel service suppliers.

ADMs will be processed through BSP within twelve months of the final travel date or, when the final travel date cannot be established the expiry date of the travel document or in the case of Refunds within twelve months of the BSP remittance date. For interline tickets where EL operates at least in one leg, ADM can be issued during 12 months of the final travel date. Passive bookings are not allowed at any interline bookings, except for prior approval from EL.

1. EL policy

1.1. EL will issue an ADM to collect amounts or make adjustments to agent transactions related to the issuance and use of EL traffic documents, issued by, or at the request of the Agent, regardless of which airlines are included in the itinerary of the EL traffic document. An ADM may also be used to collect amounts where a traffic document has not been issued, if agreed with the Agent, for example, deposits for group sales.

1.2.An ADM will represent a single charge or multiple charges if the reason for the charge is the same. Different  ADM type-charges will not be included in the same ADM.

1.3.EL will include details and, where appropriate, supporting documentation to make clear the reason why a charge is being made in an ADM.

1.4.EL  will provide the Agent with the contact details of  EL, which the Agent can contact to discuss the ADM or the contact details of a  representative.

2. Refunds

2.1. To adjust refunds, an ADM will only be issued within twelve months of the BSP remittance date on which the document was settled. For any charge due beyond this period, EL will agree with the Agent bilaterally for the ADM charge.

3. Disputes

3.1. EL complies with local BSP procedures in providing travel agents with a minimum period of time to review any ADM and dispute it.

3.2. If an Agent disputes an ADM through BSP Link, EL will investigate and contact the Agent.

3.3. If an Agent disputes an ADM before billing:

A. Agent should send an e-mail.
B. EL will investigate the provided evidence and communicate the decision to the Agent within 30 days after dispute receiving. Any dispute should be addressed with no more than three ADMs. Any additional ADM may have additional charge from EL side.

4. Agency Best Practices

The Agent should:

4.1. Not dispute an ADM where the reason is valid and evidence to the contrary is not available. EL has the right to contact the GDS for further investigation and confirmation.

4.2. Raise all disputes within the BSP dispute period in accordance with Resolution 850m. The travel agent should dispute the amount within 15 working days from the date of issuance. EL suggests the ADM submission to be included in the same billing period. In case the Agent has monthly remittance with IATA, the ADM could be included in the next calendar month.

4.3. Ensure that when an ADM is disputed the claims are detailed and well justified.

4.4. Ensure that the contact details (phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses) for the Agent are up to date in BSP Link. 

 

ADM Category  ADM Subject Amount, EUR (equivalent in local currency)
1. Administrative fee An Administrative fee for processing one ADM document. If ADM is canceled by EL for commercial reasons, Administrative fee will be paid in any case by the Agent.   10 EUR
2.
Minimum ADM amount		 Minimum amount of one ADM document of any type, excluding administrative fee.  10 EUR
3.
Terms of fares use		 In case of issuance and (or) re-issuance of a Ticket: Improper use of fare with fare rules violation: period of validity, season, number for permitted stopovers, rules of fares combination and so on. The difference between the fare that corresponds to the terms of routing and the applied fare.
4.
Booking classes		 In case of issuance and (or) re-issuance of a Ticket: Improper use of the fare with booking class violation. The difference between the highest published fare in the relevant service class and the applied fare.In case of improper and multiple re-issued tickets, 2 EUR charge would be applied per re-issued ticket number.
5.
Airport taxes		 Improper use of airport taxes and other fees. The difference between the amount of taxes/fees that meet the criteria of carriage and the taxes/fees amount that was applied.
6.
Same day cancellation policy  (VOID ticketing)		 EL accepts same-day cancellation ticket only to specific booking classes (refer to https://en.ellinair.com/article/fare_rules-travel-agents). Any violation of this rule results in ADM issuance the next calendar month. Void is not permitted for same-day issuance in case of no-show. Void is not permitted in all booking classes within 2 hours (or less) prior to departure Charge equals the whole fare.
7.
Ticket refund		 EL accepts refund request only through BSP link refund application. No other refund channel is permitted unless prior EL’s approval in the case of refund for unused or partially used tickets: Calculated amount of the refund does not correspond to the rules of the applied fare rules.In case of visa rejection (where ticket has been issued in advance) refund administrative fees apply. Refund Administrative fees apply. The difference between the amount of the refund in accordance with the rules of the applicable fare and applied calculation of the refund. All fields of Refund Application should be completed by the travel agent. Otherwise, Administrative fee would be applied.
8.
Re-issuance		 Re-issuance of the Ticket without applying the correct change fees, wrong fare calculation of the new fare. Amount of the penalty in accordance with the fare rules, recalculation to a higher fare.
9.
Discounts

 Improper use of a special fare (fare with discounts, including age, corporate, confidential, sea, tour operator discounts, etc.), as follows:
Any lack of  approval of the applied discount on the ticket;
Specifying the incorrect amount of discounts (TP, KK and others) or absence of appropriate discount suffix in the fare basis;
Absence of appropriate information in the name field of the ticket (INF, CH, ZZ, CD, DOB), number of diplomatic card (DD) in the Endorsement field or lack of any other discount information in the endorsement field or other fields that can be required by EL rules; Applying of unreasonable discount.		 The difference between the applied fare and corresponding published fare in the same booking class. If the applied fare doesn't correspond to the published fare directly, upgrade should be made till the next higher published fare in the appropriate service class or according to the airline's class hierarchy.
10. Commission  Mistaken commission recalculation from the Agent could be requested only on the monthly production. The difference between the amount of commission applied and the amount of commission that meets current Agency Agreement or the Annexes to the Agreement.Administrative fee is applied.
11.
Multiple / ficticious bookings		 Double or multiple bookings for the same passenger who logically can not take a trip on the booked route. PNR churnings are limited up to two times. Check daily your queues and ascertain that all the PNRs do not contain segments that you don't need. All the segments with the status code HX / UC / UN / US / NO should be deleted from the PNR always by using the right cancellation codes which are the following:- ‘ΧΚ’ for SABRE, Galileo and Worldspan- ‘DL’ or ‘ERK’ for Amadeus  20 EUR per passenger/segment if the multiple/fictitious booking is either in the same or in a different PNR.
12.
Test bookings		 Creating test booking in favour of fictitious names for fare calculation, services verification with the purpose of education and so on.The test bookings could be done only after EL’s approval for flights not earlier than 24hous prior departure and must be cancelled the same day.  20 EUR per passenger/segment if the test booking would not be cancelled at least 24 hours prior to departure and not after EL’s approval
13. Unproductive segments In case of any changes in the status of the booking segments (including schedule changes) by the carrier (less than 24 hours before departure), cancellation of the booking segments with codes HX, UN, UC, NO, SC, TK, US, PN, WK was not made by the Agent.In case of the ticket cancelation/refund PNR was not canceled.Check daily your queues and ascertain that all the PNRs do not contain segments that you don't need. All the segments with the status code HX / UC / UN / US / NO should be deleted from the PNR always by using the right cancellation codes which are the following:- ‘ΧΚ’ for SABRE, Galileo and Worldspan- ‘DL’ or ‘ERK’ for Amadeus  10 EUR per passenger/segment
14.
Inactive segments		 The use of passive segments or segments with any status except HK for Ticket issuance in the case of absence of seats in GDS.  50 EUR per passenger/per segment
15.
Cancelled bookings		 EL fully understands the cases were bookings could be cancelled. However, the percentage of cancellations over the total number of bookings, should not exceed the below thresholds:For bookings more than 200 per calendar month: maximum cancellation percentage allowance is 45%.In case of multiple violations of this rule, within a calendar year, EL has the right to increase the ADM charge without prior notice to the Agent.  0.5 EUR per exceeding cancelation.(ADM issuance the next calendar month)
16.
Contacts		 PNR doesn't contain direct passenger contact information or contact information of authorized person available 24/7 for carrier flight irregularity direct communication. Sufficient contact information is a mobile telephone number and e-mail. EL sends notifications to the PNR’s issued by Travel Agents and travel agents should respond as soon as possible and inform the passenger. The charge equals the total refunded amount to the passenger.
17. APIS / DOCS PNR doesn't contain mandatory information about API (Advanced Passengers Information) for required destinations or has invalid, mistaken API in SSR field. EL strongly recommends requesting valid travel documents from the passengers during the booking procedure.  200 EUR per passenger/per segment for invalid, mistaken API information.
18. Form of Payment Ellinair does not accept VANs (Virtual Account numbers) as a payment method. However, in case of using VANs for ticket issuance, Ellinair reserves the right to charge any additional costs incurred Possible charges will be based on any incurred bank commission difference.

 

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (GDS) 

No-show fee 

In case of a no-show passenger on one of the flights, Ellinair will face additional operational costs, due to the creation of empty seats on the flights.
Starting from 20/06/2016 the following billing policy applies:

  • No-show fee for Y, M premium fare category:  

Refund of fare and taxes is permitted prior to the flight departure. In case of a No-Show passenger, for any ticket cancellation or amendment, there is a 40.00 EUR No-Show fee per ticket or the equivalent amount in USD. In this particular case issuance/cancellation of the ticket (void ticket) on the same day is not permitted.

  • No-show fee for all other fare categories: 

In case of a No-Show passenger, for any ticket cancellation or amendment, there is a 40.00 EUR No-Show fee per ticket or the equivalent amount in USD. In this particular case, issuance/cancellation of the ticket (void ticket) on the same day is not permitted.

Cancellation (void) procedure 

Cancellation procedure is possible only on the same day and for the same fare level, only according to the rules and regulations of the fare. For fares where this option is not permitted, there is BSP payment procedure via ADM charges for the respective fare.   

Proper reservation system management

We highlight the importance of proper booking management and provide you with the guidelines for the proper management of the booking systems 

  1. QUEUES: Clear your Queues every day and make sure that none of the PNRs contain the segments that you do not require. All segments with HX / UC / UN / US / NO status must be deleted from the PNR, and you should always use the correct cancellation codes, namely:
    1. 'XK' for SABRE, Galileo and Worldspan
    2. 'DL' or 'ERK' for Amadeus
  2. Segments not in use: Free the segments that you are not using. Cancellations and deductions of segments must be done asap and not later than one day after the departure date.
  3. Booking Classes: Always use the correct booking class that corresponds to the fare.
  4. Separate PNRs: Do not create separate PNRs for the same passenger, on the same route. Use the same PNR for outbound and inbound bookings. Keep the whole route within the same PNR..
  5. PNRs with several routings: PNRs should only contain the bookings related to the pair of destinations of the same trip and ticket. Do not create bookings with several other alternative routes associated with separate return and other tickets within the same PNR.
  6. Cancellation & Re-booking (churning PNRs): Multiple cancellations and re-bookings for the same passenger are not allowed.
  7. Ticket Time Limit: Respect the time limits and regulations governing the category of each fare
  8. Informative PNRs: Do not create PNRs for information purposes on routes or rates. You can get information for both of these, without completing the reservation by clicking "End Transaction" in the PNR.
  9. Passive Bookings: Bookings with passive status codes (AK AL PK PL MK GK GL BK BL etc.) are allowed ONLY for issuing tickets when you do not have access to the initial booking. Make sure that the new passive booking completely corresponds to the initial booking, in the following data: Client name and surname, Booking class, Flight number, Date, Booking status.
  10. Booking Classes & Ticketing: Do not create a booking with one booking class and issue a ticket with a different booking class.
  11. Multi GDS Users: If you are subscribed to multiple GDSs, you can use the same GDS for both booking and issuing the ticket
  12. Waitlist Bookings: Pay particular attention to waitlists that are created and cancel the segments that could not be confirmed.
  13. Double Bookings: Do not under any circumstances create double-bookings for the same passenger.