Delta, Air France and KLM Distribution Policies

Delta, Air France and KLM, (each a “Carrier” and collectively, the “Carriers”) have published the following principles, rules and instructions regarding the distribution of their respective products and services in accordance with Section 11.3 of the Airline Reporting Corporation (“ARC”) Agent Reporting Agreement dated as of July 1, 2013 (as amended from time to time, the “ARA”) and International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) Resolution 824 sections 3.2 and 4.  Each Carrier instructs all agents to strictly respect and adhere to each of the following principles, rules and instructions when providing such Carrier’s respective air transportation products and services to customers. These principles, rules and instructions apply to any entity displaying, advertising, booking, selling or ticketing any Carrier product or service and are effective immediately.

1.     No Redistribution of Carrier Flight Data

No agent shall (a) provide access to, display or otherwise distribute, directly or indirectly, any of Carrier “Flight Data“ to any other party, including without limitation any “Metasearch Operator,” (b) receive any referral, web page click-through or link from any webpage of any Metasearch Operator in connection or associated with any search result on such webpage that is attributed to any Carrier product or service to any webpage used by agent, including, without limitation, any advertising link or other hyperlink, or (c) place or otherwise have any advertising link on any Metasearch Operator webpage in connection or associated with any search result on such webpage that is attributed to any Carrier product or service in such search result, in each case, without the prior written consent of the applicable Carrier or pursuant to a definitive written agreement in effect with such Carrier.

In addition, each agent acknowledges and agrees that, as between the agent and a Carrier, the Carrier owns, controls and retains all right, title and interest in and to its Flight Data and all copyright, database and other intellectual property rights relating thereto.

2.     Fares

Any publication or other communication of or relating to any Carrier product or service including without limitation any fare of a Carrier, shall at all times include all applicable taxes, airport charges, and all other levies, charges and fees that are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication, whereby the taxes, airport charges, and other levies, charges, and fees (e.g., security or fuel charges) are to be specified and added to the applicable product or service. Optional charges are to be clearly, transparently and unequivocally communicated at the start of each booking procedure or transaction and are to be presented to, and accepted by, the customer on an “opt-in” basis.

Where taxes, airport charges, and other levies, charges and fees are charged as taxes, airport charges and other levies, charges and fees imposed by a Carrier, these are to be applied unchanged.

All Carrier products and services, including fares, shall include the applicable terms and conditions stipulated by the applicable Carrier from time to time.

3.     Compliance With Applicable Laws, Rules, and Regulations

All agencies shall comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations in connection with the advertising, sale, or distribution of air transportation services, and shall not engage in any action deemed an unfair or deceptive trade practice or unfair competition pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41712.  This includes, without limitation:

• Compliance with all of the Department of Transportation’s rules and guidelines governing display or advertising of fares and air transportation services, including without limitation 14 C.F.R. §399.84
  
  
• Compliance with 14 C.F.R. Part 257, concerning the disclosure of codeshare services
  
  
• Compliance with 14 C.F.R. Part 258, concerning the disclosure of change of gauge services
  
  
• Delivery of all applicable ticket notices, including without limitation the notice of incorporated terms required by 14 C.F.R. Part 253; the baggage liability notice required by 14 C.F.R. Part 254, international liability limitation notices required pursuant to DOT Order 2006-10-14; and notice of overbooking required by 14 C.F.R. Part 250
  
  
• Compliance with the notice requirements of 14 C.F.R. §399.85 concerning baggage fees and allowances

• Compliance with 49 C.F.R. Part 175.25(b) concerning hazardous materials notification during ticket purchase
  
  
• Compliance with Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations, including but not limited to Section 5

This list of rules and regulations is not exhaustive and it is the agency’s responsibility to become familiar with and ensure compliance with any laws, rules, or regulations which apply to its activities.

4.      Carrier Intellectual Property

Each agent shall respect and strictly adhere to the guidelines relating to a Carrier’s service marks, trademarks, trade names, Flight Data and other intellectual property, including, but not limited to, the following:

• No agent shall bid on any Carrier’s intellectual property, including Flight Data, with any online search engines. With respect to any “pay for placement” or other key word purchase program offered by any online search engine such as, without limitation, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, no agent shall bid, or instruct or direct any third party to bid, on any Carrier name, trademarks service marks, trade names or other intellectual property. “Delta,” “Air France” and “KLM” shall each be included as a broad negative keyword match for all air related queries on any search engine.
  
  
• Each agent shall strictly respect each Carrier’s intellectual property, including without limitation service marks, trademarks, trade names and logos on their own websites and any permitted third party websites.

5.     Customer Service

Each agent shall fully support customers prior to departure:

• Travel agencies must handle properly the customer support issues prior to day of departure
  
  
• Online travel agencies must provide the applicable Carrier with customer contact information to facilitate last minute customer relations (Cell phone and email address)

• Travel agencies must ensure the protection of customer critical personal data (such as credit card information)

• Travel agencies must send to the customer clear information regarding its airline travel (including Booking reference, Ticket number, Origin / Destination, Flight date(s) / Flight number(s))

6.            Distribuiton to Non-IATA or Non-ARC Accredited Parties - Delta Only

Effective January 8, 2024, Delta products and services may only be accessed and sold by individuals and entities that have obtained accreditation by ARC or IATA.  This means that each Delta-approved agency location, including the agency’s home office (each, an “Agency Location”), is only permitted to ticket a Delta reservation that has been created / booked by such Agency Location.  In no event shall an Agency Location ticket any Delta product or service made available to the agent that has been reserved or booked by any other individual or entity.  In addition, no Agency Location shall release ownership of any PNR to any third party.  Each agency is fully responsible for all Delta distribution and ticketing policy violations by it or any of its Agency Locations.   

Each Carrier thanks you in advance to take these principles, rules and instructions into account and, if necessary, promptly make all the required changes in order to fully comply with each of them.

For purposes hereof, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed below:

“Metasearch Operator” means any person or entity that:

(i) aggregates data related to flights operated by air carriers (“Flight Data”);

(ii) provides access to, displays or otherwise distributes Flight Data or parts thereof to users of its services; and

(iii) refers or otherwise connects users of its services to air carriers, travel agents and/or other parties that book tickets for airline travel.

Flight Data may include, but is not limited to, flight schedules, fares, seat availability, inventory availability, seat assignment, service enhancements, flight information, frequent flyer program account information, and ancillary products and services offered by air carriers.

It is expressly understood that the principles, rules, and instructions set forth above are in addition to the rights of each Carrier pursuant to the ARC ARA and the IATA Passenger Sales Agency Agreement (as may be amended from time to time).

Each agent’s concurrence with these principles, rules, and instructions shall occur by such agent’s continuing performance under the ARC ARA or the IATA Passenger Sales Agency Agreement.

These principles, rules, and instructions may be subject to modification and updated accordingly.