Billing Settlement Plan

To understand the BSP concept and its benefits, consider the current ticketing mechanism. A travel agency makes the booking and prints a ticket on a stock of the airline (blank ticket). On this ticket, the agency puts a coupon identifying the agency from which the ticket originated as well as the audit coupon with details of the booking. Technically, the audit coupon must reach the airline within 15 days of its issue in the form of a Passenger Sales Report (PSR). But most airlines extend the deadline to the 22nd of the month for tickets issued from the 1st to the 15th. The airline then raises an invoice and the agency makes the payment on the first of the next month.

 

Under the BSP, in place of airline-specific tickets, there will be a single stock of tickets for all airlines called the Standard Traffic Document (STD). The agency will print the ticket on this and attach to it the Carrier Identification Plate and the Agency Validation Plate, identifying the airline and travel agency concerned. There is a separate stock for issuing tickets manually (in case the electricity fails). There will be a BSP office, approved agents, a clearing bank and a data processing and traffic documentation centre in each city.

Once a fortnight, the Sales Transmittal Form, containing the details of all the tickets issued (of all different airlines) along with relevant audit coupons are sent by the agency to the data processing centre which prepares a billing statement on the basis of the audit coupons and forwards a report to each airline and the agency. The airline knows how much it has to receive or remit. The agency will then make a single payment, for all the airlines, to the clearing bank (Citibank has been appointed the nodal bank for BSP). This makes it mandatory for transactions to be completed in a specified time period.

There is one hitch airline participation in BSP is optional. This is not, however, a major problem, since most airlines are bound to opt for it once the benefits become clear.

One point about the BSP is that each agency can have a maximum of two ticket printers of different Computerised Reservation Systems (CRS). The CRSs will provide the printers to the their agencies after the latter have passed the Document Certification carried by BSP, India. The CRS company concerned will also train the agency staff in the use and production of documents.

How much will all this cost an agency? Tej Sahni, president, Travel Agents Association of India says, Though no major investment is required for an agency to join BSP, it would require investment in computers, modems and other hardware so the companys financial strength will determine its future in the system.

The BSP was launched in India about two months ago and a pilot run is on in Mumbai with seven travel agencies and six airlines. The travel agents that are participating in the pilot run are American Express, Gold Chip Travel Agency, Indtravels, Futura Travels Ltd, Travel Shop, Sesodia Travels & Cargo India and Multipurpose. The six airlines involved are Air India, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Swiss Air, British Airways and Lufthansa. Once the pilot run is complete the facilities will be extended to other cities as well. There are plans to add 20 agents to the list which will then be upgraded to the other metros. Sahni expects the BSP to be operational by June 1997.

The BSP plan may be good news for big travel agencies but not so for the smaller ones which survive on discounts and delayed payments. The BSP, on the other hand, is expected to bring some much-needed financial discipline to the business.

There is one problem, though. Dont expect the services of BSP if you are travelling from Mumbai to Delhi; domestic tickets cannot be issued on BSP India stock yet.