Important: for groups bookings, British Airways requires that the Industry Standard entries SSRDOCS / SSRDOCA SSRDOCO are used for all APIS data and minimum Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD).
The SSRDOC entries replace the RM PSPT format that was previously in use.
The use of the new SSRDOC entry format is now mandatory.
Non US journeys requiring Apis data
The required APIS data are: - given names
- last name
- country where passport was issued
- passport number
- nationality
- date of birth
- gender
- passport expiry date
Industry Standard Entries:
- Amadeus:
SR DOCS BA HK1-P-IRL-123456789-GBR-29MAY76-F-25AUG08-SMITH-SARA/P1
(FI, MI for infant's gender) - Galileo
SI.P1S1/DOCS*P/IRL/123456789/GBR/29MAY76/F/25AUG08/SMITH/SARA - Sabre
3DOCS/P/IRL/123456789/GBR/29MAY76/F/25AUG08/SMITH/SARA-1.1 - Worldspan
3SSR DOCS BA HK1/P/IRL/123456789/GBR/29MAY76/F/25AUG08/SMITH/SARA-1.1
US journeys
For customers travelling to the US the following additional APIS information is required: - country of residence
- destination address in the US for first night stay (except US citizens or residents)
For all journeys to/from or within the US, customers are required to provide the minimum Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD) to British Airways at least 72 hours prior to departure these minimum data are:
- Given names (as they appears on the passport)
- Last name (as it appears on the passport)
- Gender (M for male, F for female, MI for male infant and FI for female Infant)
- Date of birth
- Redress Number (if applicable).
SFPD is a subset of APIS data. Therefore if the full Apis data has been provided at least 72 hours before departure, then this will satisfy also the SFPD requirement.
If a booking is made within 72 hours before departure, the SFPD must be provided at the time of booking.
If the minimum SFPD is not provided at least 72 hours before departure, the passenger may be refused for the flight by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) of the USA.
Ticket Inhibition
To comply with the US Secure Flight program, and following the Resolution recently adopted by IATA, Amadeus has implement Ticketing Inhibition since December 2010.
Any booking without minimum SFPD, where required, fails to ticket. Therefore we recommend that this data is collected at point of sale or as soon as possible and entered into the PNR prior to ticketing.
All other GDSs have introduced a similar functionality and some have been operating since 01 October 2010.
Agents who are Ticketing using a Passive PNR must enter the Secure Flight Passenger Data in the Passive PNR, to enable Ticketing.
Names Changes for US bookings
All name changes for US bookings require SFPD to be provided at the same time as the amendment. When providing SFPD for the new name, any obsolete SFPD for the old name must be deleted.
Splitting PNR
The special service request field (SSR) is used for a multitude of information that is essential to a group booking (for example baggage request, special meals and ticket numbers).
The current SSR count in Amadeus (excluding seating) is set at a maximum of 127 per PNR. Therefore, as each individual passenger will require a minimum of 1 SSRDOC for Secure Flight up to a maximum of 4 SSRDOCs for the full APIS details for US journeys, the maximum number of SSR can soon be reached for a group booking.
In order to avoid this, group bookings must be split into smaller passenger numbers.
For groups travelling to/from or within the US (full APIS information required), we advise a maximum passenger count of 20 per booking.
For groups travelling to other countries requiring Apis data, we advise a maximum passenger count of 50 per booking.
NB: the above passenger counts are subject to the number of existing SSR items already in the PNR.
The groups booking process
The booking process remains the same as today, up until the names deadline.
Once the names have been entered, the booking must be split if necessary, in line with the recommendations indicated in the previous paragraph.
At this point the Apis information can be entered, using the SSRDOCS / SSRDOCA / SSRDOCO entries.
In the event that the travel agent has requested a block seating for a "homogeneous" group (students, orchestra etc.), we recommend that the booking is split, if necessary, after the block seating has been assigned by the system, at -7 days before departure; this is to ensure that the groups can be seated together.
Travel agents should refer to their respective GDS help guide for PNR splitting.
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