Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) has officially allied itself with the International Airline Association (IATA) to fight the government”s US Exit proposals which it says will hit business travellers” pockets.
By January next year, carriers will be required to collect and send biometric information on all international passengers to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when they exit the country under the proposed rules.
DHS also requires airlines pay for this, pointing out that they already send biographic information prior to passengers” departures so are well placed to implement the checks.
”It is clearly evident that the all costs are expected to be picked [up] by the carriers, and ultimately the travelling public,” said ACTE president Richard Crum, ”and the wide disparity in the cost factors clearly indicates there is a lot of slack in this proposal.
”It is unreasonable to expect the airlines to shoulder this financial burden, especially at a time when they are facing staggering fuel increases, maintenance costs, and other rising expenses. It is equally unreasonable to drop a $300m travel cost increase in the form of security surcharges or additional ticket taxes onto business travellers.”
IATA regional vice president for North America Douglas E. Lavin added: ”This collection process will result in significant hassle for our passengers in terms of airport congestion, delays and missed connections, and our airlines and our passengers are not in a position to absorb the multi-billion dollar price tag for this programme.”
ACTE also objects to the programme”s implementation ” DHS plans to leave this to carriers, therefore it says there is no guarantee that the process will be the same at every airport or even at different locations within the same airport, leaving huge room for confusion.
” ACTE has launched a research resource for the business travel industry ” ACTE Connect is a free collection of white papers, presentations, surveys and other documents relating to every aspect of the business travel profession.
”Our challenge was to harness the intellectual capital of the industry in one virtual home,” said ACTE global centre for research and education chairman Greeley Koch. ”ACTE Connect [offers] everything from traveller tracking to procurement strategies, from seamless automation to online booking, and from advanced travel management to the latest in supply chain management.”
Research is continuously refreshed by buyers, suppliers, TMCs, consulting firms, ACTE partners, research organisations, government agencies and academia - most of the documents are less than a year old, and more than 30% are less than three months old. Commercial messages under the guise of research will not be accepted.
Anybody can access it, not only ACTE members.