Agencies charge Travel Agency Service Fees (TASF) through BSP or ARC. These fees are collected as payment for the professional services the agents provide to their customers. Although service fees require an end transacted booking, TASF are saved to the Universal Record before End Transact, and without issuance. Service fees are issued at the PNR level, not the segment level. They are not associated to a stored fare or a segment. Fee issuance can occur before or after ticketing, depending on agency business processes.
TASF requirements include:
- Printer linkage, particularly for MIR
- Sessioned environment, the same as ticketing
A sequential approach is the recommended option if there are multiple service fees to be issued for one host PNR. This involves a multi-step process:
1. Begin session.
2. Display PNR.
3. Submit request to issue fee.
4. Wait for response.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until all TASFs have been issued.
6. End Session
Request
The AgencyServiceFeeCreateReq in the UtilitiesService is used to create services fees. There is no limit to the number of fees which can be added to a PNR, other than the host limit. Each fee can have up to three taxes applied, and a fee can be modified or deleted before it is issued. After a fee is issued, it cannot be changed. The Status can be set to issue some fees and not others.
Required data includes:
- Status
- Ready to Issue: Use AgencyServiceFeeCreateReq to create and issue the fees. If a key is specified, the related fee item is updated, then issued. If a key is specified, but does not exist, then the fee item is added and issued.
- Issue Later: Create and store the fee with AgencyServiceFeeCreateReq. A Key is assigned. Use UniversalRecordModifyReq/UniversalModifyCmd/UniversalAdd/ServiceFeeInfo to issue the fees later. The key is included in the issuance request.
- Passenger name
- Amount of fee
- Currency of fee
- Form of payment information. Only credit cards are accepted. Credit card form of payment is allowed without the credit card type. When using Agency Service Fee Create, the service fee is created and issued immediately.
Important: Technically, FOP is optional and supports a status of "Issue Later". However the AgencyServiceFeeCreateReq always requires an FOP because it always issues a Service Fee.
Note: The form of payment for TASF might not be the same as for an air ticket.
Optional data includes:
- Related ticket number
- Related invoice number (Galileo only)
If ServiceFeeTaxInfo@Amount or @Category are provided, the other must also be provided.
The following data is saved, but not sent to the host:
- Description
- Issuance Indicator
A Service Fee request to Galileo does not send the card holder name (if it exists) or the CVV.
Non-Standard Credit Card for TASF
This functionality, released with Universal API release 23.4.1, allows agents to issue a TASF (Travel Agent Service Fee) with a non-standard credit card so they can expand offerings to a wider range of clients who wish to use a non-standard credit card for travel agency services (Galileo [1G] only). Release 23.4
To use this functionality, agents use a standard or non-standard credit card and Util.xsd AgencyServiceFeeCreateReq/FormOfPayment
The following credit cards are considered standard on 1G:
-
Visa (VI)
-
American Express (AX)
-
Japan Credit Bureau [JCB] (JC)
-
Government (GR)
-
Mastercard/Access/Eurocard (CA)
-
Airplus (TP)
-
Diners Club (DC)
For non-standard credit cards, card details aren’t validated in the provider system, so correct card details are the responsibility of the agent. Tickets are issued without validating non-standard credit card details, ExpDate, auth code and extended payment. See FOP Ticketing Modifiers for more information about credit card payments.
Notes:
This functionality is:
-
Enabled for Galileo(1G) only
-
Limited to FOP credit cards+ only
Response
The AgencyServiceFeeCreateRsp is returned.
When a fee is issued, the document number is added to the fee information in the database, along with the total value of the fee (base plus taxes), if that information is not already stored. (Taxes are calculated by adding all ServiceFeeTaxInfo@Amount). Payment information, including the authorization code, displays only after the fee is issued.
A TASF is only issued (i.e., the host is sent a message to issue) if the Status is set to "Ready to Issue". If the Status has any other value, it is only used for the Universal Record and is not sent to the host. When the document is issued, the Status is set to "Issued", and the confirmation is the TASF document number issued in the host. If the Status is "Issue Later", TASF data is not sent to the host. If the fee is not issued, it is not considered to have been purchased yet (no payment has occurred).
Universal API uses existing Form of Payment validations. It also validates that the ProviderCode is correct and that the ProviderLocatorCode is valid for the ProviderCode.
Errors
- If a request is made to issue a TASF that has already been issued, an error message is returned: "Service fee has already been issued with key number."
- If a request is made that includes a Confirmation Number\, an error is returned: "Confirmation number is not supported in service fee request."
- If more than three taxes are submitted with the issuance request, an error is returned: "Max allowed Service Fee taxes are 3."
- If a request is made to issue a service fee and the Status of that fee is anything other than "Ready to Issue", an error is returned: "Service Fee Status should be ReadyToIssue while issuing."
- If a request is made to issue a service fee with a form of payment other than credit card, an error is returned: "Only credit card form of payment allowed."
Exceptions
Galileo
Galileo supports forms of payment other than credit card, but only credit cards are accepted for TASF issuance through Universal API.
Non-standard credit cards can be used for TASF.
Apollo
Apollo only supports credit card form of payment.
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