| Answer | In the traditional BSP model, the Ticketing System Provider (possibly GDS) activates and restricts an Agent’s capability for transaction issuance based on instructions from Airlines and IATA.In the NDC ONE Order distribution channel, the Airline is in control of the offer management, the order management and the transaction issuance whether issued within the airlines own internal technology environment (PSS/OMS/host systems) or outsourced to a Ticketing System Provider (TSP) acting on airline instruction.The Airline utilising such distribution capabilities no longer relies on external system providers (TSP or GDSs) for the validation of Agency data and Agency risk management data.IATA has created an API called “BSP NDC Upfront Validation” that enables Airlines to collect the latest status of an IATA Accredited Agent prior to the issuance of an NDC transaction. The API call may take place as a minimum at the time the airline is about to issue a NDC transaction. As per airline discretion, such API call may also take place during the shopping process, namely before the airline provides an offer to the IATA Agent. The API call, from the NDC airline to IATA, will contain only the IATA Agent code. In return, the API response, from IATA to the NDC airline, contains six information up-to-date at the time of query concerning this agent:
- BSP Active status of the agent
- Allowance of the FOP “Cash” for this agent
- Allowance of the FOP “Card”
- Open IATA EasyPay wallet
- Airline ticketing Authority status (granted by the airline making API call)
- PCI DSS Compliance status (as declared by the Agent to IATA)
The information provided to the NDC airline corresponds to the real time status contained within IATA Agency Management System (IATA AMS - All Agent and FOP data) and within BSPLink (Airline Ticketing authority module). The status of Agent ticketing authority status corresponds to the status maintained by the given airline in the “ticketing authority” module of BSPLink. For airlines using IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) for their NDC sales, the agent validation will be performed automatically for each ticket issuance request based on the agent status in the BSP and based on the corresponding airline’s business rules without the need to implement any additional processes from the airline side.For more information on IATA Financial Gateway (IFG), please visit https://www.iata.org/services/finance/Pages/iata-financial-gateway.aspx |
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