Booking & Ticketing Policy

Booking and Ticketing Agency Debit/Credit Memo (ADM/ACM) Policy

1. INTRODUCTION

Vietnam Airlines issues this Policy with the objective of preventing abuses in booking and ticketing, ensuring fair competition, protecting compliant agents, and maintaining the accuracy of the airline’s inventory. Pursuant to this Policy, Vietnam Airlines reserves the right to recover or adjust fees and costs in any cases where agents are found to have violated Vietnam Airlines’ booking and ticketing policies including, but not limited to, this Policy.

This Policy applies to all travel agents, including both IATA/ARC-accredited and non-accredited agencies. In this Policy, “agent” and “agency” are used interchangeably.

This Policy applies to all bookings made through the Vietnam Airlines inventory system and covers electronic tickets (ETs) and electronic miscellaneous documents (EMDs) for all types of transactions, including sales, refunds, exchanges, voids and other related topics.

In addition to the penalties for the violation of the errors, rules violations and other practices mentioned below and/or delay Agency Debit Memo (ADM) payments, Vietnam Airlines reserves the right, at its sole discretion and without prior notice, to immediately restrict or suspend an agency’s booking activities, permanently revoke Vietnam Airlines system access or terminate the agency’s contract in cases of severe or repeated violations. The level of enforcement shall be determined based on the severity of the impact or loss caused in Vietnam Airlines’ sole discretion.

This Policy complies with and is supplemented by IATA Resolution 850m and other relevant IATAs’ resolutions and their successor resolutions. All clauses in this Policy are the standard ADMs policy. In case VN and agent have other bilateral agreement on issuing ADM policy, the bilateral agreement will prevail.

Vietnam Airlines (VN) reserves the right to update this Policy without prior notice.

2. APPLICATION

2.1. Booking and ADM Policy

2.1.1. Definitions of Violations:

Duplicate/Redundant Booking: Two or more segments for the same passenger, on the same or similar route, on the same or similar dates, created by the same agent across one or more GDSs.

Inactive/Waitlist Booking: Segments with status code HX, UN, UC, NO, US, TL, TN, HL, UU, WL, GL, PL, DW,… that are left un-cleared by the agent instead of being permanently removed from the active PNR within 25 hours before departure time.

Passive Booking: Non-active segments entered into the GDS for purposes other than issuing tickets for active segments originally created in the airline’s reservation system.

Speculative/Fictitious Booking: Any segment created without a genuine and confirmed travel request, or by using false, invalid, or non-existent passenger information. This includes, but is not limited to:

- Creating segments using test names, initials, celebrity names, random characters, or other fictitious passenger details.

- Creating multiple or impossible or illogical itineraries that cannot be physically flown or completed in anticipation of a possible sale without definite passenger intent.

- Attaching or associating used, invalid, or non-matching ticket numbers to a PNR.

- Issuing and voiding tickets on the same day for the same passenger or group of passengers more than three (3) times.

- Holding or retaining 20 seats or more per flight number per flight date from the inventory, whether created through a single or multiple PNR(s), without completing the booking transaction (EOT) within 15 minutes.

Churning: Repeatedly creating and cancelling the same booking for the same passenger or group of passengers more than five (5) times.

System Abuse /Manipulation: Any intentional action or misuse of the reservation system aimed at obtaining an undue advantage, such as securing lower fares, gaining access to closed or restricted booking classes, or circumventing applicable fare, inventory, or ticketing rules; including but not limited to:

- Married segment abuse: Unlinking or altering married segments, rebooking, or splitting PNRs to bypass inventory control logic in order to access availability or fares that would otherwise be closed or restricted.

- Point of origin manipulation: Creating false origins or destinations (including ticketing via third point, origin shifting, or local availability abuse) to obtain more favorable fares.

- Tampering with class availability or selling closed booking classes through manual manipulation or system workarounds.

- Any other practice that distorts inventory data, bypasses fare construction rules or compromises system integrity.

Contact Information of passenger: In accordance with IATA Resolution 830d, it is mandatory for all travel agents to enter the passenger’s contact details (mobile phone number and email address) into the PNR before ticketing. The purpose of this requirement is to enable Vietnam Airlines to contact passengers in the event of Irregular Operations (IROPs), including flight cancellations, schedule changes, and significant delays. Inputting the travel agency's own contact details (phone/email) instead of the passenger's, or leaving the PNR blank without an explicit CTCR element, constitutes a direct violation of this policy. NEW

2.1.2. Applicable Penalties and Violation Determination

Vietnam Airlines reserves the right to determine both the occurrence and severity of violations based on its own system records, inventory impact, and loss incurred. Agents also must cooperate with reasonable requests for information and records regarding actual and potential violations from Vietnam Airlines.

2.1.2.1. Duplicate/Redundant Bookings: All duplicate and/or redundant segments will be subject to the cancellation of reservations without prior notice. Vietnam Airlines reserves the right to determine and cancel any affected segments at its sole discretion.

2.1.2.2. Inactive Booking: Agents must monitor queues regularly and remove all inactive segments at least 25 hours prior to the scheduled departure time. Failure to comply will be subject to the issuance of an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) with a penalty of USD 15 per passenger per segment.

2.1.2.3. Passive Bookings: All passive segments will be subject to the issuance of an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) with a penalty of USD 15 per passenger per segment.

2.1.2.4. Speculative/Fictitious Booking: All speculative and/or fictitious segments will be subject to the issuance of an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) with a penalty of USD 40 per passenger per segment.

2.1.2.5. Churning: All churning segments will be subject to the issuance of an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) with a penalty of USD 5 per passenger per segment.

2.1.2.6. System Abuse Violations: Segment(s) created through system abuse or manipulation, whether ticketed or not, shall be subject to an ADM penalty equal to the fare difference between the ticketed or potential ticketed fare and the correct applicable fare, or a fixed penalty as specified below, whichever is higher.

- For Economy Fare Classes: USD 500 per passenger per segment/fare component.

- Business/Premium Economy Fare Classes: USD 800 per passenger per segment/fare component.

The penalty shall be applied to both the booking and ticketing agents involved if they are different.

2.1.2.7. Contact Information of passenger:NEW

- Missing or invalid SSR CTCM/CTCE, or without a valid SSR CTCR at the time of ticketing, an ADM penalty of USD 20.00 per PNR shall apply.

- Falsifying passenger contact details or inputting Agency contact details into CTCM/CTCE, an ADM penalty of USD 20.00 per PNR shall apply.

In addition to the USD 20.00 financial penalty:

- Vietnam Airlines will not accept any liability for any passenger complaints, claims, or financial compensation arising from the passenger’s failure to receive automated IROP notifications due to missing or incorrect SSR CTC elements.

- The non-compliant travel agency shall bear full financial and legal responsibility for any re-protection, hotel accommodation, or meal costs incurred due to the lack of direct communication with the passenger.

2.1.3. Exchange rate:

The penalty amount shall be converted to each Billing and Settlement Plan’s (BSP’s) settlement currency using BSR (Bank Selling Rate) on the first day of the month in which the ADM is issued.