Learning Outcomes:
By completing this lesson, you will be able to:
- List the BSP participants and define their roles and responsiblitites
Introduction
This lesson identifies the main participants in the BSP system: who they are and what they do.
Participants and suppliers in the BSP are the BSP participating airlines, the IATA Accredited Agents, the Data Processing Centres (DPCs), the Clearing Bank, and the BSP Management and Global Distribution Systems (GDSs).
BSP Participating Airlines
Participation in the BSP is open to all airlines, IATA Members as well as non-members, operating scheduled commercial passenger flights into/out of the country or area concerned.
IATA Accredited Agents
All IATA Accredited Agents in the BSP country of operation must participate in a BSP.
All new IATA Accredited Agents must join BSP upon accreditation in a BSP country. When a BSP commences operations in a new country, all qualifying travel agencies must join IATA to participate in the BSP.
Data Processing Centres
The Data Processing Centre or "DPC" is the central point where all airline tickets, issued by the agents, are reported. The DPC receives from the Global Distribution System (GDS) and/or the Ticketing System Provider (TSP) all the sales data related to airline tickets issued by the Agents. The DPC processes the data and produces Billing Analysis reports for both airlines and Agents, for each reporting period.
The Clearing Bank
The Clearing Bank is a local bank appointed by IATA in each BSP operation, where Agents remit the funds for Airline sales and from where Airlines are settled for the services sold by the Agents on their behalf.
The BSP Manager
The BSP Manager is the IATA official designated individual that manages a BSP for a particular region or country.
The Manager ensures that guidance and information are available at the local level to all parties concerned in the BSP and that proper control is exercised.
The BSP Manager is also known as the IATA Country Manager.
Global Distribution Systems and Ticketing System Providers
A Global Distribution System (GDS) and a Ticketing System Provider (TSP) are computerized reservation systems used by travel agencies to book and issue tickets for airline travel, hotel accommodations, car rental and other travel products. The major GDS systems are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. In the BSP system, the GDS and TSP will transmit agency sales data to the Data Processing Centre.
Key Learning Point:
Study Check ~ Answer Key
