Automated Baggage Rules reaches its 2011 target

The Automated Baggage Rules (ABR) project has been able to successfully meet its last target on 2 November 2011.

Six Global Distribution Systems (GDS) as well as the other system providers released their solution between April and November 2011 in order to be compliant with the IATA Resolution 302 and the US Department of Transport (DOT) rules.

This project kicked off through a mobilization campaign led by Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) and IATA in view of the changes to be applied to airline’s baggage rules.  As a result, more than 200 airlines provided ATPCO with their baggage rules by October 2010. By March 2011, that number reached 300. Through the organization of several Task Forces, the overall industry has been involved, including airlines, GDSs and Departure Control System Providers (DCS), as well as the US DOT. ABR gained momentum throughout its duration, as demonstrated by the increasing number of participants in each of the Task Force meetings.

The last and ongoing stage is focusing on the involvement of the DCS providers, who have worked on their roadmap for implementation over the next months. In parallel, solutions have been developed and are delivered by several system providers including ATPCO to calculate excess baggage charges at check-in level.

The ATPCO central database for baggage is used to enable airlines, travel agents and passengers to know what baggage rules apply for any given itinerary.

For further information, please visit the ABR webpage.