Order No. 1997-A-743

December 16, 1997

File No. M5000-A-328

Air Transat A.T. Inc. carrying on business as Air Transat (hereinafter Air Transat) has applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency (hereinafter the Agency) for the exemption set out in the title.

Paragraphs 51(8)(g) and (h) of the Air Transportation Regulations (hereinafter the ATR) state:

Every contract shall be made subject to the condition that, on payment of the price per seat, each passenger is issued a valid non-transferable ticket that shows clearly:

(g) the date on which the passenger's reservation for ABC transportation was confirmed;

(h) the price per seat paid for the passenger's ABC transportation;

With respect to the application for an exemption from paragraph 51(8)(g) of the ATR, Air Transat states that ABC tickets are almost always issued by the tour operator on a date after the initial reservation is made by the customer through the travel agent. Ticketing printing programs therefore always work on the basis of the date of issue rather than that of the date of reservation. Consequently, the latter date is not printed on the ticket. However, this information is included in the passenger's file which is stored in the tour operator's electronic data system.

With respect to the application for an exemption from paragraph 51(8)(h) of the ATR, Air Transat states that a substantial part of the sales volume of a tour operator is comprised of ITC packages where the price of air travel need not be indicated on the ticket, that the industry adopted a common practice of not including the price on any charter tickets (ABC or ITC) in order to simplify procedures but that the relevant information regarding an ABC price is also contained in the electronic data system of the tour operator.

The Agency has considered the application and in light of the foregoing is of the opinion that, in this particular case, compliance with the provisions of paragraphs 51(8)(g) and (h) of the ATR is unnecessary.

Accordingly, the Agency, pursuant to paragraph 80(1)(c) of the Canada Transportation Act, S.C., 1996, c. 10, hereby exempts Air Transat from the application of the provisions of paragraphs 51(8)(g) and (h) of the ATR, subject to the conditions that the information contained in the electronic data system is retained for a period of one year from the flight departure date and that the price per seat requirement of the ATR is met.