BRITISH
Airways has performed a U-turn in the face of a growing backlash over
back-dated Agency Debit Memos by waiving ticketing deadline fines issued up
until the end of last month.
The
decision follows an emergency meeting between the carrier and ABTA’s senior
aviation experts, who told BA that ADMs dating back to January 2001 were
threatening agents’ livelihoods.
UK and
Ireland head of sales Tiffany Hall called the move “a gesture of
goodwill”. She said: “We have always had the same rules about ticketing
deadlines but we recognise we have turned a blind eye to them in the
past.”
Agents who
have already been debited for ticketing deadline violations dating from before
the end of February will be refunded, but fines issued for other violations
will remain, said Hall. She also warned the trade that all ticketing rules
would be rigorously enforced in future.
ABTA welcomed the national carrier’s U-turn but agents
remained suspicious of BA’s motives.