1.1. Inactive segment
Changes to a flight segment status by airline resulting in requirement to cancel, the booking segment(s), the segment(s) should be removed from GDS booking at the earliest or at least twenty-four (24 ) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time. This includes ticketed or un-ticketed bookings with status codes such as UN, NO, HX, WK, WL, WN, UC, US and DS etc.
Even if the Travel Service Provider has taken action to remove segments, with above mentioned status codes, within twenty-four (24) of scheduled flight departure time , still the GDS cost will be applicable to the Airline. Hence the Travel Service Provider should ensure to remove such status code mentioned above twenty-four (24) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time.
For segments not removed up to 24 hours and within 24 hours of flight departure, a penalty will be applied to Travel Service Provider to cover the GDS cost and the administrative overheads as per section B (consequences for policy violations).
1.2. Churning
Churn refers to repeated booking and cancellation of same segment for same passenger regardless of class of service/date of travel.
Any cancellations done in excess of 2 for the same segment within a PNR, will be considered as billable churn and a penalty will be applied to Travel Service Provider to cover the GDS cost and the administrative overheads as per section B (consequences for policy violations). Any churn segment in excess of 2 will be calculated from the first cancellation onwards within a PNR.
1.3. Duplicate booking segments / for the same passenger
A single Travel Service Provider should refrain from creating duplicate bookings for the same passenger on multiple flights or in multiple classes, on the same date of travel and same O&D, ticketed or un-ticketed , will result in unnecessary cancellations which increases GDS booking fees for the Airline and lead to spoil inventory. The Airline reserve the right to cancel all such PNRs/segments with or without prior warning.
Travel service providers who are in the habit of creating duplicate bookings will be identified and Travel Service Provider’s access to Airline inventory will be terminated.
A penalty will be applied to Travel Service Provider to cover the GDS cost and Administrative overheads as per section B (consequences for policy violations).
1.4. Speculative bookings
Holding onto SriLankan Airlines’ inventory by deliberately blocking seats, increases GDS booking fees and inventory wastage to the Airline and reduces the availability of SriLankan Airlines services to genuine passengers. Travel Service Providers should refrain from making speculative bookings or holding seats in Airline inventory without a booking.
Once these mal-practices are identified, such bookings will be subject to automatic cancellations and Travel service provider will be terminated from accessing the Airlines’ inventory from all GDS systems and other booking systems if deemed necessary without a prior warning. A penalty will be applied to Travel Service Provider to cover the inventory wastage and Administrative overheads as per section B (consequences for policy violations).
1.5. Group bookings
Block Space / Fictitious Block Space by Individual Bookings
Blocking space by means of many separate individual bookings instead of the established group procedure is prohibited.
Such malpractices mentioned above are subject to immediate cancellation without prior notification and terminate access to the Airline’s inventory. A penalty will be applied to Travel Service Provider to cover the inventory wastage and Administrative overheads as per section B (consequences for policy violations).
1.6. Passive bookings
An acceptable passive segment should be entered into a GDS for the purpose of ticketing. It must match an existing booking in SriLankan Airlines internal reservations system. The use of mismatched segments to issue tickets, or to generate false confirmation is strictly prohibited and will be rejected by SriLankan Airlines immediately without prior warning.
If a passive segment is rejected by SriLankan Airlines, then the passive segment should be cancelled immediately by the Travel Service Provider, in order to avoid unnecessary fees from SriLankan Airlines. Failure to do so will result in the Travel Service Provider being billed as per penalty mentioned under section B (consequences for policy violations).