"Not good enough!" That's the cry of several airline distribution players, as they try to thwart the International Air Transport Association (IATA)'s effort to fix its much-critiqued proposal for changing the industry's messaging standards for airfare content.
Industry opponents are swinging what they hope are the knockout blows to IATA's industry-changing proposal Resolution 787, which currently waits for approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
This past spring, IATA submitted its blueprint for an XML data transmission standard for regulatory approval by the DOT.
Companies and industry groups submitted nearly 400 complaints critiquing the wording of the resolution.
Attack of the hobgoblins
In late June, IATA responded to these complaints by proposing the DOT add "conditions" to the resolution, acknowledging that a number of parts of the resolution should be removed or changed.
It assured the DOT that concerns expressed by other commenters were “hobgoblins invented by those vested in the status quo.” IATA has blogged a general response to the industry complaints: "Five answers about resolution 787."
But IATA's move to accommodate concerns has not satisfied opponents.
Six days ago, Amadeus, the leading global distribution system, issued a statement saying:
"We believe it is the original recipe that needs changing. IATA must now take the initiative to change Resolution 787 and re-submit afresh to the DOT."
Last night, Open Allies for Airfare Transparency, which represents nearly 400 of the largest travel agencies, corporate travel buyers, and other travel industry stakeholders, revealed that it wants IATA to withdraw Resolution 787, create a new one, get it approved by its Passenger Services Conference, and let DOT review the simplified document by end of the year.
Open Allies' submission to the DOT, shared below, walks through all of the contradictions and inconsistencies between IATA's multiple filings/responses/statements, while urging DOT to reject the proposal. Says Andrew Weinstein, executive director of Open Allies:
Last October, the Passenger Services Conference of IATA approved the original Resolution 787.
IATA then passed a subsequent resolution on New Distribution Capability at its Annual General Meeting that was inconsistent with the original resolution, then sent a Reply to DOT that contained yet another set of "conditions" to 787 that contradicted the earlier proposals.
In short, the whole process has been a mess, and IATA needs to start over.
Will the DOT take it upon itself to accept IATA's document with what are essentially a bunch of redlines, cross outs, and addendums scribbled on it. Or will it reject the proposal, requiring IATA to re-submit it?
A decision looms by autumn.
The document submitted to the DOT is here:
Open Allies reply to IATA's reply to critics of its Resolution 787 by Sean O'Neill
NB: Image courtesy of Nadia Ibanez/Flickr/Creative Commons.