Description:

Starting October 28, 2024, a new refund regulation from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will take effect when a flight to/from the United States has been canceled or rescheduled to depart 3 or more hours earlier or arrive 3 or more hours later than scheduled, and 6 or more hours earlier or arrive 6 or more hours later than scheduled for international flights. In these situations, if the customer decides not to accept the protection offered or if no alternative flight is presented, the ticket must be proactively refunded

Travel Agencies will continue to apply the passenger protection procedure in the event of an itinerary change as they always have. To comply with the new provisions of the US Department of Transportation (DOT), must proactively manage the refund of a purchase in the following situations:

1.        Flight cancellations with protective flight or delay of the original flight:

- When the customer expresses their rejection of the new itinerary or the change option BEFORE the departure of the protective flight.

- When the customer takes no action after receiving the notification and does not show up for the new flight (NOSHOW).

2.              Cancellations without protective flight (route closures):

- If no action is taken with their ticket, the refund is processed immediately and proactively

Scope:

Involuntary changes in flights to/from the United States of tickets issued in any country.

Implementation date:

October 28, 2024

Considerations

In accordance with current processes, LATAM will notify flight rescheduled and cancellations via the system. Agents must take action to issue proactive refunds as established by the new regulations..

It is important to note that LATAM's notification regarding itinerary changes affecting flights to and from the United States will offer all customers (both direct and indirect channels) who visit the LATAM Airlines website the option to reschedule their flight, leave the ticket open, or reject the new flight.

If the customer decides to reschedule their flight, they will be able to adjust the travel date through the LATAM Airlines website, according to the validity of their ticket.

Depending on the option chosen by the passenger, the messages that will be sent to the agencies will be as follows:

In case the customer chooses a refund, the system will automatically record a tag in the PNR, sending a message to the agencies to process the refund. The tag that the agency will see in the PNR for the refund will be:

SSR OTHS YY INVOL FLT CHG PSGR DECLINES TO FLY PLEASE PROCESS RFND

If the customer takes no action after receiving the notification and does not show up for the flight, once the flight date has passed (24 hours after the protective flight), the system will record a tag that will send an automatic message to the agency, informing them to process the refund because the customer did not show up for the flight:

SSR OTHS YY PSGR WAS NO SHOW PLS PROCESS RFND IF FLIGHT WAS CNLD OR RESCHEDULED

If LATAM does not provide a new protective flight and no action is taken regarding the ticket, once the date of the affected flight has passed, the system will record a tag that will send an automatic message to the agencies, informing them that a refund must be processed:

SSR OTHS YY INVOL FLT CANCELLATION NO FLIGHT OPTION AVAILABLE PLS PROCESS RFND

The notification messages sent by LATAM must be reviewed by GDS and DCP agencies in the queues where they receive itinerary change notices:

- SABER and Amadeus queue Q1

- Galileo queue Q67 

- DCP queue Q499.

In the case of agencies NDC, maintain their notification processes for involuntary changes via email or Central de Notificación (OCN).

If an affected reservation has no message or is within 48 hours of the flight, the travel agent must take action according to the customer's request: date/flight change or refund. If the customer indicates that they will not take any action to make a future involuntary change within the validity of the ticket, an OSI message should be entered in the reservation: PSGR RQST TKT OPEN DOT US.

The agency must always verify if there is an affected flight or if the customer did not travel (NO SHOW) in order to process the refund.

Section:

Sales | Passenger Protection