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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0050.PDF
46 FLIGHT International, 10 January 1963 AIR COMMERCE... Streamlining the ticket FOR THE LAST-MINUTE PASSENGER ON DOMESTIC SERVICES BEA's "walk-on" proposals now appear to be merely a method of selling spare seats at slashed prices to hopeful stand-by passengers. Many problems will have to be solved if there really is a market for such a curious group of travellers, who will need infinite patience and no particular aim in life. If they wanted to travel cheaply they would surely prefer a coach or hitch-hiking. If they were in a hurry they would, for all moderate distances (e.g., Glasgow - London) go by train rather than hang about at airports. One of the problems that will bear re-examination is that of ticketing last-minute passengers. Could tickets be eliminated altogether? The answer applies to all types of service from the United Kingdom and may be of interest to airlines other than BEA—who have already simplified their domestic tickets but have not yet thrown them away. One day someone may even start genuine "no-booking" services in the UK—services similar to the Eastern Airlines shuttle New York - Washington in which there are such frequent services that passengers can be promised seats without the necessity of advance booking. From the passenger's point of view the essence of the system is that he has a guaranteed seat. Without this, the scheme must be a failure because there are too few passengers who are prepared merely to travel to the airport hopefully as distinct from arriving at their destination certainly. On the Eastern shuttle the only document a passenger needs from the airline is a boarding pass indicating that he has a seat; and this the passenger obtains for himself by filling in his name and address on a pass issued from an automatic dispenser. The airline does not need to print any contractual conditions on these documents because the whole of the carrier's "conditions of carriage" are included in the tariff filed with the CAB—and are thus a matter of public notice. In these circumstances the carrier can and does collect money on board the aircraft. There is no comparable legal system in the United Kingdom and hence any currier who wishes to impose any special conditions on the passenger (e.g., restrictions on what or who may be carried) must take steps to draw the attention of the passenger to these conditions at the time when the passenger is accepted for carriage. On any aircraft flying between Glasgow and London there will be some passengers who are continuing by air overseas (or who have come by air from overseas) and others whose contract of carriage will start and finish in this country. In most circumstances the legal liability of the air carrier towards the "international" pas sengers will be regulated by the 1929 Warsaw Convention (in corporated in English law by the Carriage by Air Act 1932). The air carrier's liability towards the other passengers in the United Kingdom will be regulated by the Carriage by Air (Non- international Carriage) (United Kingdom) Order 1952 which applies a modified form of the Warsaw rules to such circumstances. One of the most attractive modifications is the absence of any documentation requirements as specified in the original Warsaw Convention and this simplification has no doubt given rise to the impression that no tickets are required for non-Warsaw carriage \n ?!e Unlted Kingdom. Unfortunately the carrier's limit of liability for registered baggage is still specified in terms of the weight of the registered baggage and hence the carrier must have some record of this weight. If the carrier wishes to take advantage of the limits of liability in the Warsaw Convention then he must deliver a passenger ticket and a baggage ticket ("baggage check") and include on the baggage ticket the serial number of the passenger ticket, and number and weight of pieces of baggage and a statutory statement about the applicability of the Warsaw Convention. If the carrier wishes to impose special conditions on any passenger (i.e., Warsaw or non- Warsaw) then he must draw them to the attention of the passenger. IATA members engaged on interline traffic must adhere to the relevant interline resolutions and use standard ticket forms and standard "conditions of contract." There is therefore a variety of types of passenger who may be travelling happily together on an ostensibly domestic sector—say Manchester / Glasgow: (1) "International" passengers travelling to or coming from overseas points who may be (a) IATA interline; (b) On-line (i.e., only one carrier involved from issue of ticket to arrival at destination); (c) Warsaw; (d) Non- Warsaw; (e) With registered baggage; or (/) Without registered baggage. (2) "Purely domestic" passengers whose whole contract of carriage begins and ends in the United Kingdom and who may be (a) With registered baggage; or (6) Without registered baggage. It is impracticable for traffic staff to determine whether a passenger is "Warsaw" or "non-Warsaw" when overseas origins or destina tions are involved. It is also impossible to be certain of "Warsaw" status when tickets are issued against exchange orders or other forms of credit. From all the above, the following rules emerge for the harrassed ticket staff who may be asked to deal with passengers presenting themselves for "domestic" services in the United Kingdom: Type of passenger Those without ap propriate ticket or without Flight Coupon for the particular sector With Flight Coupon for sector IATA interline with or without baggage (0 Other than IATA interline (e.g., "on-line") with baggage and either (a) oversea origins or destinations (see Conjunc tion tickets) or (b) tickets to be issued against Exchange (2) Orders On-line without baggage (3) (4) 1ATA or on-line with or without baggage Ticket-staff action Issue and complete following types of ticket:— IATA Type "A" (see sketch) (2) (3) Type "B" (see sketch) Follow instructions appro priate to Flight Coupon Baggage - Baggage "of which the carrier takes charge"
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