Billing and Settlement Plan Ticket Sales Audit Process and Agency Debit Memo Policy
Dear Travel Agency Partner,
United Airlines would like to notify the travel agency community of its policy regarding United’s Billing
and Settlement Plan (BSP) Ticket Sales Audit process and issuance of Agency Debit Memos (ADMs).
The Travel Agent must comply with United’s booking and ticketing policies, IATA Rules and
Regulations, Tariffs, Fare Rules and all associated transaction-required information (collectively,
“Rules”) to determine the fare charged to the customer for travel and services on United (PSAA
Paragraph 3 - Selling Carrier Service). For the protection and integrity of its revenues, United audits
100% of all travel-agency-issued tickets in all its IATA BSP participating countries for compliance with
these Rules. United will issue an ADM when a determination is made that the Travel Agent owes
United additional monies in connection with travel-agency-issued ticket(s). United issues ADMs in
accordance with the IATA Passenger Sales Agency Agreement (PSAA – Resolution 824) between
United and each Travel Agent and applicable IATA resolutions, specifically the principles set forth in
IATA’s Resolution 850m titled Issue and Processing of Agency Debit Memos.
To access United’s booking and ticketing policy, go to www.united.com and select Travel Agents in
the homepage footer.
General policy points to be aware of:
General – United issues ADMs through IATA’s BSP system to collect amounts or make adjustments
to agency transactions in respect of the issuance and use of United’s traffic documents or when a
traffic document has not been issued but the error is subject to the terms of the Passenger Sales
Agency Agreement.
Dispute Procedure – United recognizes that agencies have a maximum 15 days (from 1 June 2014)
in which to review and dispute an ADM prior to billing to the agent. United will work with the agent to
settle within 60 days of receipt of the dispute. When disputing an ADM, the agent is asked to provide
a reasonable, specific explanation of its dispute along with supporting documentation sent to the
correct United contact according to the information outlined on the ADM.
ADM Timeliness – United only processes ADMs through the BSP within 9 months of the final travel
date on the relevant traffic document. ADMs referring to refunds made by the agent shall be
processed through the BSP within 9 months after the refund has been made by the agent.
Any requirement by United to issue ADMs to collect amounts or make adjustments outside of these
periods are handled directly with the agency.
Minimum Value and Grouped ADMs – United reserves the right to group related ticket error
transactions together on one ADM per IATA number. No ADM is issued for an amount that is lower
than the minimum value (variable by country) except when a consistent pattern of underpayment from
a specific IATA number or chain of IATA numbers is identified. Detailed support is provided for ADMs
with related grouped errors.
Administrative Fees – United applies an administrative fee, which is determined on a country-bycountry basis, on ADMs issued.
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Invalid ADMs – At any time during the ADM process, if it is found that the individual ADM is invalid,
the ADM is canceled and fully refunded, including all administrative fees originally applied.
Next Applicable Fare – If United issues an ADM for non-compliance with fare rules, the value of the
ADM is determined using the next applicable published or unpublished fare.
Auto Priced Tickets – United only issues ADMs for errors on recognised auto-priced tickets on the
occasion when the price (including all elements) does not match with the data expected, and it is of
the opinion that the error is not the fault of the airline.
Disclaimer: There will be minor variations to our general policy in certain countries/markets around
the world until individual country policies are published.
If you have any questions relating to this Policy, please email:
CADebitMemos@united.com – for Americas/Latin America IATA Area 1 countries
ADMPOLEMEAI@united.com – for Europe IATA Area 2 countries
APACADCM@united.com – for Asia/Pacific IATA Area 3 countries
United Airlines – 1 June 2014
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