ATPCO: The Total Fare - Airlines Reporting Corporation

ATPCO: The Total Fare
Agenda
•  Overview of ATPCO
•  Fare Filing Process
•  The Total Fare
•  Exchanges and Refunds
Who Is ATPCO?
•  Headquartered in Dulles, VA with regional offices in London,
Miami and Singapore
•  Airline Owned
•  Cost-recovery” (non-for-profit–like) business model
•  Industry leader in collection and distribution of airline fare
and related data
•  Provides a single source of distribution to airlines which
enables fast and efficient distribution to GDS’s and CRS’s
via scheduled releases
ATPCO Business Model
Connect
440 airlines supply their data to ATPCO
Airlines
Connect
Global Community
104 Carriers
117 Carriers
219 Carriers
Connect
We distribute their data to 13 GDS systems…
Airlines
Systems
Amadeus
Ctrip (2013)
Expedia
FareCompare
Google/ITA
HP
Sabre
Sirena Travel
SITA
TAIS Systems
Travelport
TravelSky (2014)
Vayant
Connect
who provide it to more than 200,000 travel agencies and
other points of sale…
Airlines
Systems
Points of
Sale
Connect
who then reach more than 3 billion airline passengers
Airlines
Systems
Points of
Sale
Customer
Life Cycle of a Fare: Product Portfolio
GFS
Market View
Fast Track
ISR / TCN
FROP
AIA
PIPPS
PMP
IDEC
Input Services
Fares
Automated Rules
RBDs
Negotiated Fares & Fare By Rule
Sales Restrictions – Private Data
Voluntary Reissues/Refunds
Constructed Fares
Service Fees
Fuel/Ins (YQ/YR) Fees
Ticketing Fees (OB)
Optional Services (OC)
Branded Fares
Subscriptions
Baggage Web Service
Baggage Allowance and Charges
Taxes
Connect
Life Cycle Integration
Airlines
Systems
Points of
Sale
Customer
Government
•  Feed into airline revenue accounting and fare management
•  Include sales data from systems
•  Support government filing
Connect
440
Airlines
13
>200K
Systems
Points of
Sale
>3 Billion
Customer
https://baggage.atpco.net/
Customer
Industry Standards
•  Technology enables an increasing amount of airfare-related
information to be priced by automated data
•  Carriers, Systems and ATPCO work together towards
establishing industry standards for processing automated
data
Result = Data Application
•  Documents automated pricing standards for each data
record/element
•  ATPCO owns and maintains data application
•  A “living document” designed to incorporate changing
airline business needs
Data Application
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Standard-Setting Benefits
•  Establishes a definitive pricing application
•  Drives consistent and accurate results across the life cycle
•  Pricing
•  Revenue Management
•  Accounting/Settlement
•  Serves as the authoritative resolution for interpreting and
processing data elements
•  Reduces calls to help desks and debit memos
•  Reduces manual workaround
Fare Filing and ATPCO
When are Fares released to the Marketplace?
US/CA
•  Monday - Friday: 1000, 1300, 1600, 2000
Saturday & Sunday: 1700
International
•  Monday – Friday: hourly
Saturday: 18 times 0000–1700
Sunday:
16 times 0800–2300
* All times given are US Eastern Time Zone
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How is a fare created? What does it include?
•  Fare data
o Carrier, Market (city pair), Fare Class, Amount, Dates
•  Fare Class data
o Type, Designators, Day of Week, Booking Code
•  Restrictions data
o Automated Rules
•  Footnotes data
o Travel, Ticketing
•  Routing data
•  Taxes and Fees
What are Tariffs?
A set of pricing data defined by geography and
data security; ATPCO tariff names also indicate
the type of data (fares, rules, etc.)
•  TAFP
Transatlantic public fares
•  IPRA
Transatlantic public rules
•  TARG
Transatlantic public routings
•  EUASPV Europe to Asia/Pacific private fares
•  PF17
Within the United States public fares
ATPCO database has more than 2,000 tariffs
Types of Fares
•  Published
Publicly available specified fares
•  Unpublished
Constructed fares
•  Private
Only available in specific channels
•  Negotiated
Corporate Contracted private fares
•  Fare By Rule
Dynamically discounted fares
Data Security
Public data
•  A fare that is available to the general public for purchase
•  Distributed to all points of sale
•  Available for viewing by competitors once filed
Private data
•  A fare only available for sale/display by a specific GDS,
agent, location, etc.
•  Specific security and distribution
Distribution control: G30
•  Specifies which tariffs/rules go to which GDSs
•  Allows the carriers to specify the Agency, GDS, Location, etc.
•  Required to be set up for Private Fares
•  Only ATPCO has update authority; will change in 2015
ATPCO Fare Display
Routing
Travel Dates
Footnote
Rule
Filing Information
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Text From A Fare
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Text From A Fare
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Text From A Fare
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Filing Process
Footnotes Rou$ng Fare Classes Fares GFS Filing
Rule © 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Restriction Data
•  Conditions of Carriage (Paper General Rules)
•  Automated General Rules
•  Fare Rules (Categories and Assumptions)
•  Footnotes (Categories and Assumptions)
•  Restrictions are created and managed by the industry as a
whole, for the benefit of all carriers and pricing systems
Fare-Based Structures Overview
Data Processing for Pricing
Start with a
fare Includes Tariff, Carrier,
Rule, Market, Fare Class
Process
category data
for matched fare class list
Retrieve
details
data
for verification
Match fare to the
Fare Class list
If sequence list
matches,
store data and
continue processing
If sequence list does NOT
find a match,
apply generic sequence,
general rule, or system
assumption as applicable
If data matches,
PASS and
PRICE fare
FAIL if rules don’t match
desired itinerary
parameters
Rules: Fare Basis vs. Fare Class
•  Fares and rules linked by Fare Class
•  E.g YOW, HLX7AP, AONE4
•  Fare Class maps to specific provisions (categories)
•  Each category has specific data tables that contain the rule/
restriction information
•  Fare Basis Code: Fare Class + Ticket Designator
•  Can be the same, but not always
•  HLX7AP/SALE is the fare basis code
•  HLX7AP is the fare class
Rules: The Categories
•  The industry divides rule provisions into 32 categories
•  24 of 32 are “automated”
•  Each have a specific System Assumption
•  Usually, but not always a negative (i.e. Does Not Apply)
•  All contain text fields as well for additional information
Restriction Data: Categories
#
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Category Name
Eligibility
Day/Time
Seasons
Flight Application
Advance Res/Ticketing
Minimum Stay
Maximum Stay
Stopovers
Transfers
Combinability
Blackout Dates
Surcharges
Accompanying Travel
Travel Restrictions
Sales Restrictions
Penalties
#
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
25
26
27
28
29
31
33
35
50
Category Name
Higher Intermediate Point
Ticket Endorsements
Children/Infant Discounts
Tour Conductor Discounts
Sales Agent Discount
Other Discounts
Miscellaneous Tags
Fare By Rule
Groups
Tours
Visit Another Country
Deposits
Voluntary Changes
Voluntary Refunds
Negotiated Fares
Rule Application
Restrictions: Common Issues
•  Automated Text
•  Highly technical and difficult to interpret
•  Note Text
•  Does Not Autoprice
•  Can be in conflict with automated text
•  General Rules conflicting with Fare Rules
•  Alignment of Dates
•  Season, Blackout, Travel, Sale, Fare Effective/Discontinue and
Footnotes
Footnotes
•  Used to control travel/sale dates of fares
•  A quick way of “activating” a fare for sale
Footnotes: Common Issues
•  Travel dates can conflict with other rule provisions
•  Date/Time
•  Seasonality
•  Poor footnote maintenance can cause “zombie fares”
•  Discontinued fares that are brought back to life
Routings
•  Contain restrictions on
travel itinerary
•  “Travel must be nonstop”
•  Contain maps of allowed
routings
•  Used as alternative to IATA
Mileage System/Mileage
Exceptions
Routings: Common Issues
•  Routing maps can conflict with geography-based Rules
categories
•  Flight Application (Category 4)
•  Transfers (Category 9)
•  Missing Cities
•  Where Fares and Rules are updated to reflect new markets but
Routings remain untouched
Itinerary-Based Elements
Other pricing elements require information from the selected
itinerary to autoprice:
•  Carrier-Imposed (YQ/YR) Fees
•  Ticketing Fees (OB)
•  Optional Services/Baggage (OC)
•  Taxes
The Total Price
Fare Amount + Surcharges
+ YQ/YR + Taxes + Ticketing Fees/Ancillaries
Total Price
Carrier-Imposed Fees (YQ/YR)
•  Allows the marketing carrier to assess itinerary-based charges
•  Developed to offset the spike in fuel prices in 2004-2005
•  Used by over 320 airlines
•  Now can account for more than 50% of Total Fare
•  ATPCO is the single source
Ticketing Fees (OB)
•  Allow collection of fees by the validating carrier to offset
transaction costs
•  Used to recover credit card merchant fees (outside US)
•  Also used for special issuance (paper tickets, etc.)
•  Primary use in Asia, Australia, and Europe
Optional Services (Ancillaries)
•  Allow the operating carrier to charge for ancillary services
(meals, entertainment, lounge access)
•  Used by over 100 airlines to put ancillary content in all sales
channels
•  ATPCO maintains the IATA-endorsed ancillary subcode
database
•  Fast-growing database of information
Baggage
•  ATPCO acts as the sole industry source of automated
baggage data
•  Checked and carry-on allowance
•  Charges for checked baggage, including prepaid
•  Used by almost 400 airlines
•  Compliant with new IATA Resolutions
•  Work with carriers, shopping engines, and departure control
to automate baggage process
•  Process is compliant with US DOT, Canada’s CTA
•  ATPCO also has an Baggage Calculator API to dynamically
calculate baggage information
Taxes
•  Since 2012, ATPCO has maintained a central Tax database
based on IATA TTBS
•  All carrier-specified amounts will be filed solely through
ATPCO in late 2014
•  Replaces inconsistent information (on paper)
•  Will also be used to replace RATD
Reissues and Refunds
Category 16: Penalties
•  Used to specify penalty restrictions related to
•  Voluntary Changes
•  Involuntary Change
•  Cancellations/Refunds
•  Category does not autoprice (text only)
•  Use this category for text (instead of Categories 31/33)
•  Text must be in sync with 31 and 33
Category 31: Voluntary Changes
•  Category 31 is designed to accommodate all data elements
needed to automatically process a change
•  Who qualifies for the change
•  When the re-issue may take place
•  Permitted: Ability to state no changes permitted
•  Change fee amount (penalty)
•  Which fares to use in the re-price
•  Ability to override fare rule data categories on the re-price when
desired
Category 31: Process Tags
There are 11 different process tags that tell the pricing
system how to re-price the new itinerary:
•  Current Fare Types
•  Fares/Rules applicable at the time of ticket re-issuance
•  Historical Fare Types
•  Fares/Rules applicable at time of original ticket issuance
•  Keep The Fare
•  Keep the fare and rules as ticketed and perform the re-issue
•  Combination Tags
•  Variances of the above (not recommended)
Category 33: Voluntary Refunds
•  Designed to accommodate all data elements needed to
automatically process a refund transaction
•  Who qualifies for the refund
•  When the refund may take place
•  Permitted: Ability to state no refunds permitted
•  Penalty fees for refunds
•  Ability to invoke waivers if needed
•  Usage
•  Must be coded on ALL fares used on the ticket to process
correctly
Reissues and Refunds
Text Examples
•  Category 16 Text
Reissues and Refunds
Text Examples
•  Category 31 Text
•  No Cat 33 Text Exists
Reissues and Refunds: Common Issues
•  Text issues
•  Data Application interpretation
•  Accessibility of data/policies
Conclusions
•  Pricing Data is complex
•  “It is not always a pricing problem”
•  Pricing tends to get blamed when things go wrong
•  Pricing Errors Happen
•  Data Application is a work in progress and living document
•  ATPCO continuously enhances our systems to streamline input,
add intelligence to the data and implement edits to avoid errors
•  We Exist to Serve the Industry
•  Working Groups
•  Industry Forums
•  New Business Requests
Doug Sharpe
Manager of Customer Marketing and Sales, ATPCO
[email protected]
www.atpco.net
© 2014 Airlines Reporting Corporation, All Rights Reserved.