NDC InFocus January 2019

BSP for NDC

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Enhanced BSP risk management functionalities with
the implementation of NewGenISS1
The IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) is designed Visibility and control of forms of payment within
to facilitate and simplify the sales reporting, remittance the BSP
and settlement from IATA Accredited Travel Agents, as For more detailed information, please refer to NDC
well as improve financial control and cash flow for air- InFocus - Benefits of Reporting NDC sales through the
lines (including streamlined risk management features BSP.
with the NewGenISS program).
ZOOM INTO THE TOPIC
In a NDC environment, the airline is in control of the of-
fer and order management as well as the NDC transac- How does it work?
tion issuance. The airline, with NDC, will want to benefit The main features include risk management activities
or continue benefiting from the BSP and its enhanced before transaction issuance, IATA agency sales moni-
value proposition, namely: toring regardless of the sales channels and reporting/
settlement services for both airlines and their partners.
Access to an industry distribution framework The three main functionalities are:
composed of a reliable and professional network 1. An API for Agency Upfront Validation
of agents in some 180 countries and territories 2. An API for Real Time Sales Monitoring (RTSM)
A single standard Reporting & Settlement process 3. A daily NDC sales reporting (batch process via
available for airlines and their appointed agents NDCLink)

(8) Agent remits

funds to IATA
(9) IATA settles
funds to airline

(2) Airline requests Agency

Upfront Validation from
IATA pre transaction and
confirms or denies the
ticketing request
CLEARING
BANK
API API Agency
Management

CONTENT Ticket
AGGREGATORS Issuance

API API Risk (5) IATA processes RET

Monitoring file batch and sends to
BSP for processing
TRAVEL NDC
AGENCY API
AIRLINE (3) Airline sends post IATA
(1) Agent accesses transaction limited set of
content via API, via data in real time to IATA for
aggregator or directly, risk monitoring (RTSM)
confirms offer and BSP
Airline’s
requests ticket issuance NDCLink
Sales PROCESSING
Reporting
(4) Airline sends RET file
batch submission to NDC
Link for sales reporting

(6) IATA creates billing

statement/HOT file and
sends to airline
(7) IATA creates billing
statement/HOT files and
sends to agent

Figure 1. BSP and NDC Complete Workflow from Order Create Request to Settlement

1
The NewGenISS functionalities are deployed in wave mode within each BSP according to the 2018-2020 roadmap.
2
Travel agents currently make a self-declaration of their card usage and their PCI DSS status regarding card sales.

1
 NDC In Focus January 2019

1. API for agency upfront validation What are the costs?

The three components are fully integrated within the already ex-
For every transaction, the airline submits a real-time request isting BSP Standard Charging Unit for core processing. A one off
using an API and receives a reply which allows the airline either single NDCLink implementation fee of 15.000 USD for all BSPs
to issue the transaction or deny the request. This request will and all IT Providers applies per each airline designator.
validate: Note: should an airline not be able to supply the sales data
in the standard RET format, IATA is able to perform the data
If the agent is active or inactive within a BSP transformation from the reported format to the RET compliant
If the agent is allowed to use a specific BSP form of payment format for an additional per transaction fee.
(E.g. Cash, Card)
If the agent has opened an IATA EasyPay account to enable What is the recommended rollout plan for an airline?
that form of payment to be used – applies to NewGenISS As a first step, a NDC Airline can start any time with the NDC
BSPs only Link reporting service independently from Upfront
If the agent is PCI DSS compliant2 Validation and Real Time Sales Monitoring APIs.
Additionally, for BSPs where NewGenISS is implemented, it
2. API for real time sales monitoring is essential that to benefit from IATA BSP risk management,
the airline implements the API functionalities as soon as
To enable IATA to pro-actively monitor risk and reduce the possible.
possibility of defaults, short payments and bust-outs, IATA
requires a limited amount of sales related data (11 elements INDUSTRY STATE OF PLAY
based on existing sales reporting standards) to be sent for
each transaction in real-time. 100% of all agency sales fulfilled IATA has been actively working to ensure that the BSP and
directly by the airline including all forms of payment is required other IATA solutions are integrated seamlessly for the benefit
to ensure the integrity of the risk monitoring engine. Real time of the industry. As a result, we already count 5 airlines in 28
means as close as possible after the completion of the ticket- BSPs processing their NDC sales in BSP.
ing and transaction-by-transaction. The process is identical to
the one currently in place with each GDS. Future state
In addition to these new features, IATA has identified some
3. NDC sales reporting – Existing batch file reporting process additional key industry benefits that will result in some major
via NDCLink efficiencies for reporting, remittance and settlement and at the
NDCLink is a service available only to BSP participants. The same time incorporate the NewGenISS program. We envision
airline must be NDC Level 3 certified and participate in each a future state of providing a variety of possible reporting op-
BSP of the countries it plans to report their agency NDC trans- tions which will ultimately see:
actions in.
The airline creates a single global sales daily reporting file in As per airlines’ needs, further validations included in the
the BSP industry standard reporting format (DISH-RET) and IATA Upfront validation API (for example, airline-agent
sends it to the BSP portal NDCLink. NDCLink conducts data ticketing authorities)
integrity checks, splits the file into separate BSP files and sub- A shortened set of data elements for the sole purposes of
mits them as required to each concerned BSP. Airlines will collecting monies held in trust in the context of settlement
subsequently receive a report (HOT file) summarizing all NDC of orders
transactions along with their traditional BSP sales.
Link to more detailed information
Get in touch with the IATA customer service team
at IATA Customer Portal.