Customer Experience & Facilitation Strategic Partnerships Program

Customer Experience & Facilitation Strategic Partnerships Summary

The Customer Experience & Facilitation area focuses its activities and efforts on standards and solutions aligned to the end-to-end passenger process. Its activities sit under the Travel Standards Board which manages the development of standards concerning any interaction between airline and any other parties involved in the delivery of a product of service to a customer.

Benefits

• Participate in the relevant group(s) highlighted below
• Receive preferential rates and opportunities when attending the annual World Passenger Symposium (WPS)
• Access to IATA Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
• Partake in the new standards collaboration work frames
• Develop processes and technical standards
• Drive technical and process innovation
• Develop implementation guides that reflect best practices
• Receive industry notifications on a broad spectrum of areas including One ID
• Participate in the annual Fulfil-Deliver Advisory Forum under Travel Standards Board 

Activities

Deliveries on Orders Working Group (DOWG)

1. The DOWG deals with matters concerning the current and future passenger service delivery management and delivery tracking, as well as the future management of data in shared airport environments, including Aviation Information Data Exchange (AIDX) for exchanging flight data between airlines, airports, and any third-party consuming operational data and Common Use environments for managing passenger processing.
   
   
2. Recognizing the industry’s ambition to move to the world of offers and orders only, develop and maintain modern standards to facilitate interaction between airline responsible for Customer’s Order and Service Delivery Providers or other Transportation Service Providers (including airlines) responsible for delivery of services ordered by the customer and that airlines and airports share relevant data about expected and actual passenger flow in-airport to improve operational performance and use smart resource (i.e., uniquely identified, connected and operating autonomously) allocation to ensure efficient utilization of resources.
   
   
3. Document business requirements, propose additions or changes in Order Delivery messages, and maintain associated Implementation Guide propose additions or changes in the Common Use Web Services (CUWS), and the standardization of data exchange supporting common use self-service bag drop and different touchpoints using web services technology with the goal to maintain associated Implementation Guide.
   
   
4. As necessary, maintain business continuity during the transition to the world of offers and orders; develop, review, and endorse proposals to amend: Resolution 708 and Recommended Practice 1706a, 1706b, 1707a-1719e. Furthermore, maintain business continuity during the transition from legacy environments to develop, review, and endorse proposals to amend Common Use standards for CUWS, CUSS, CUPPS, BCBP and ITPS. (Resolution 792, and Recommended Practice 1706c, 1741, 1797) and AIDX (Recommended Practice 1797a).

 

Customer Experience & Facilitation Working Group (CEFWG)
IATA has realized the value of integrating airline operations   alongside connected stakeholders such as airports and governments with the aim of providing a seamless journey for the passengers.

The CEFWG will look at how processes can be streamlined across stakeholder environments for the entire end-to-end passenger journey through the development and harmonization of standards, technology, and policy. A special focus is given to digital identity management, pre-travel verification and the use of biometrics across access and touchpoints, through the One ID Standards development.

Key objectives are:

1. Deal with matters concerning the current and future customer experience passenger facilitation, contactless journey, and the exchange of information between airlines and other stakeholders including airports and governments.
2. Take steps towards recognizing the industry’s ambition to advance customer-centricity, develop and maintain modern standards to facilitate interaction between the passenger and the airline, the airport, and authorities in respect of passenger facilitation processes,
3. Document business requirements and propose the development of the One ID messages for contactless travel through biometric-enabled identification and the digitalization of passenger admissibility in advance of travel.
4. As necessary, maintain, develop, review, and endorse proposals to amend standards relating to accessibility, passengers with reduced mobility, and the handling of mobility aids.

 

Facilitation Passenger Data Working Group (FPDWG)
The FODWG brings together the PAXLST and the PNRGOV Working Groups.

The primary role of the PAXLST Working Group is to maintain the IATA version of the PAXLST message and associated standard message formats used to exchange Advance Passenger Information (API) between airlines and governments in accordance with changes adopted by the WCO/IATA/ICAO API-PNR Contact Committee.

The PNRGOV Working Group defines business requirements, manages change requests and maintains the implementation guides for EDIFACT and XML messages for Passenger Name Record (PNR) data which is transmitted to governments by airlines.

Key objectives are:

1. Deal with matters concerning standards on transmission of passenger data from airlines and passengers to government agencies.
2. Recognize the industry’s ambition to move to the world of offers and orders only, as well as to move towards a more advanced customer-centric processes by developing and maintaining modern standards to facilitate passenger data’s transmission to authorities.
3. Document business requirements, propose additions or changes to the PNRGOV and PAXLST messages as well as associated Message Implementation Guides. Develop Business Requirement Documents where necessary by using the Airline Industry Data Model (AIDM) methodology.

 

Control Authorities Working Group (CAWG)
The CAWG is an expert forum of airlines and governments that are working collaboratively to recommend solutions and to develop best practices on border management and passenger facilitation. The positions and materials developed by the CAWG present a balanced perspective between the requirements and limitations of both governments and the airline industry. The CAWG seeks to find mutually acceptable solutions for harmonizing processes, enhance passenger facilitation and border controls, and improve the risk assessment.

The CAWG was established in 1987 and is today composed of 18 national delegations with representatives from airlines, governments, and airlines associations. Observers from international and regional organizations also contribute to the work of the CAWG.

The CAWG works on topics such as data quality, passengers’ pre-travel verification, travel documents and authorizations, interactive Advance Passenger Information (IAPI), inadmissible persons and deportees, and digital identities and legislative framework.

The meetings of the CAWG are limited to its members only.

Monthly Facilitation Exchange Call
The monthly Facilitation exchange call keeps the Facilitation community abreast of recent global developments and updates related to facilitation policies, implementation of passenger data exchange programs as well as capacity building activities. It also provides an overview of IATA’s recent regional activities and engagement on these topics.

The call is attended by International Organizations, Airlines, Airports and Strategic Partners. IATA’s subject matter experts and Regional Managers are present to provide the most accurate input possible.

The call follows an informal format in which the audience is invited to provide their point of view and communicate specific issues requiring attention.

Focus Areas

• Facilitation: focuses on areas of the passenger journey related to border control management, passenger data (API/PNR), the future of passenger data, and other areas of compliance with immigration and customs regulations.
• Customer experience: focuses on meeting regulatory requirements in preparation for travel and service delivery for the fulfillment of orders, including contactless travel through digital identity and biometric technologies.
• Passenger accessibility and the customer experience in fulfilment of special service requests
• Delivery on Orders, and the impact on operational environments and shared environments (such as Common Use and AIDX)
• Maintenance of business continuity during the transition to the world of offers and orders to maintain business continuity during the transition from legacy environments.

Designed for

• ACI Member Airports
• Government authorities
• Automatic border control system providers  
• Digital identity management providers
• Biometrics solution providers  
• Airline software solution providers (PSS, DCS, GDS...)
• Common Use solution providers (CUSS, CUPPS, ITPS...)
• International organizations

Please view the full list of Strategic Partnerships Program benefits (pdf).