BSP essentials for travel agents new to IATA accreditation

The Billing and Settlement Plan, or BSP, is the method for providing and issuing standard traffic documents and accounting for them between participating airlines on one side and accredited agents on the other 2. In practice, you sell and refund tickets through your ticketing system, IATA bills you for the period, and you remit what you owe on a fixed date. Everything else in this article hangs off that cycle.

Who takes part

Three parties matter to a new agency.

• The agency, which issues tickets and other accountable transactions on its IATA code.
• The BSP airlines, meaning carriers that participate in the BSP and appear as the transporting carrier on the ticket 2.
• IATA, whose Data Processing Centre produces the billing and reports from the data it receives from the ticketing system provider or GDS 211.

The rules and procedures for agents under BSP conditions are in the BSP Manual for Agents, which is issued on the authority of the Passenger Agency Conference 2. The same conference sets the frequency of billing and remittance in each BSP, on the recommendation of the local APJC 3. So the timing you work to depends on your market.

How sales are reported and billed

For each billing period, you receive a BSP Billing with all transactions billed in that period. It covers ticket sales and refunds on all forms of payment (cash, card and IATA EASY PAY), plus adjustment transactions such as ADMs and ACMs 6. A billing period can span one or more reporting periods, and its length is set by the Passenger Agency Conference 2.

The reports reach you through BSPlink. They stay available to download for two months after posting, grouped into packages under the Download Files tab 11. Two reports matter most:

• The Agent Billing Details, a detailed list of transactions issued on your IATA code and billed in the period, including tickets, refunds, ADMs, ACMs, SPDRs and SPCRs. The Agent Billing Summary gives totals by transaction type 1.
• The Agent Remittance Summary, which states what you owe the BSP and when 1.

Billing reports are produced separately for each IATA code 1. The manual recommends that you review and reconcile them, checking for example that fare, tax and commission amounts were reported correctly 1. This check has real value. The billing reflects the data received from the TSP or GDS, and IATA does not verify details such as fare computations. Each airline does that, and where it finds a discrepancy it may raise an ADM or ACM to correct the transaction 1.

How remittance works

The net amount owing for cash tickets and refunds, and for any adjustment transactions billed in the period, must reach IATA's Clearing Bank by the Remittance Date 6. The remittance notice that comes with the billing shows the amount and should be paid in the exact currency shown 69.

If your agency is set up for direct debit, IATA debits your account on the Remittance Date, and you must make sure the designated account holds enough funds for the full amount 9. Where direct debit is available, it replaces the payment you would otherwise send yourself 3.

IATA publishes a BSP calendar for each BSP every year, available through the IATA Customer Portal 3. It holds three dates for each period: