How to join BSP

Online Application Guide

Please note this document only intends to guide you through the BSP joining process on the IATA Customer
Portal. Each applicant is responsible to complete the full application following the instructions and information
required in the online form

Eligibility and General Requirements to join BSP

For your Airline to participate in the BSP the following requirements apply:

▪ Must hold a valid IATA Designator and Accounting code

▪ Must operate scheduled passenger services
▪ Must be able to issue Electronic Tickets as per IATA Resolutions via an Electronic Ticket System provider
(ETSP)
Participation in BSP is open to all airlines (IATA members and non-members).
NOTE: Please refer to FDS Airlines Start-Up Guide for more detailed information on the above.

▪ Must submit an online BSP joining application

If you want to review what will be seen in each section of the online application, you can also watch the video
tutorial on the Portal, available under Support > Financial Services > Airline Management > Joining
BSP/CASS.

▪ BSP joining fee

Upon review and acceptance of the joining application and the corresponding documents, the applicable invoice
will be issued and payment will be required either via ICH for Clearing House members or bank transfer for non-ICH
airlines. For further details please refer to “BSP CASS CODING & MITA PRICE LIST” that you can find on the
Customer Portal under Support tab.

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How to access BSP online joining application?

All IATA Customer Portal users who requested access to “Joining Settlement Services” and received a positive
confirmation from their Portal Administrator will be able to access this service and complete the joining form.
Locate Joining Settlement Services under Services tab on the Portal’s homepage and click on Go to Service.

You can also access this service from your Favorite Services on the Portal’s homepage.

Click on New Joining Application:

Once the New Joining Application starts you will need to complete 4 steps which will be called Section A, B, C
and D.

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Airline Joining Application

Section A – Participation Country & Type

▪ Select the Type of Participation: BSP
▪ Select the BSP Country
▪ Fill in Description field with all the info you think may be relevant for the application and click on
Continue

NOTE: In case of Multi-Country BSP joining *(min. 10 BSP countries), please specify the set of countries in
the Description and complete one joining form per country.

The form can be saved as a draft; however, it must be submitted within 8 weeks, otherwise a new form will have
to be created and filled in again.

* Multi-Country BSP joining Fee

Airlines may choose to join a pre-defined set of BSP markets (minimum of 10 countries/operations) for which they
agree to pay a lump-sum fee, with a 40% discount on the normal joining fee published in the “BSP CASS CODING
& MITA PRICE LIST”. The discounted joining fee price applies only if the pre-defined set of markets are
implemented at the same time.

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Section B – Review Country Requirements: BSP – Country

Please pay particular attention to this section.

Based on the Country selection made in Section A, a list of local requirements will be displayed in Section B. Before
proceeding to the next section make sure you are compliant with all the requirements.
Note that requirements can vary significantly depending on the country.

Click on Next to proceed to Section C.

NOTE: You do not have to initiate a joining application to view Country Requirements. You can find the
requirements under your portal Services. Search for service Country Requirements and click on Go to Service.
Then you can select BSP or CASS participation type and the country that you wish to review.

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Section C – BSP Joining Form

In this section the Joining Form can be completed and saved as a draft (8 weeks is the limit).
Please, read carefully the instructions and note that all fields in red and marked with * are mandatory.

C1. Participation in BSP

This section must be fully completed.

Indicate the desired commencement date (date on which you wish to start your participation in the selected BSP)
and the type of participation desired (Full-direct participation or Weblink (IFG)).

Your data will automatically appear under the Contact person responsible for this BSP application, since you are
filling it. Please make sure that all the fields are completed. If another person should be appointed and contacted
by IATA to be updated on the status of the application, please change the contact details accordingly.

C2. Airline Information

The first fields about the name, address and code of your Airline will be automatically filled in and
cannot be changed (red square below).

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NOTE: Field Local VAT number in BSP XX (point 1 on the image) must be filled in if the Country Requirements indicate
that it is mandatory to have a local VAT. Same is valid for the local address field as well (point 2 on the image).

Please keep in mind that this manual provides an example of the online Joining Form; form may contain more
fields and require different information, based on the country selected.

C3. Contact Information

Indicate the contact to be provided to ETSP (GDS), the financial/administration contact and the contact details to
be used for BSP user creation.

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C4. Product Subscription

In this section additional subscriptions can be made, please note that it is possible to apply for these products
also after submitting the Joining Form, when you are already an active participant in the selected BSP.

4.1 Does your Airline wish to receive HOT files?

The options are:
▪ No
▪ Yes - Daily
▪ Yes - Per Period
If Yes, the HOT file receipt channel should be specified (iiNET/BSPLink or ASD - for China only).
If you select iiNET, please include your iiNET account number.

4.2 What BSPLink access level does your airline require?

The options are:
▪ Basic
▪ Enhanced
If Enhanced, please note that for non-IATA Member Airlines Enhanced BSPLink user is payable. You can consult the
price in the “BSP CASS CODING & MITA PRICE LIST” that you can find on the Customer Portal under Support tab.

4.3 Does your Airline wish to participate in any Commission Control?

The options are:
▪ No
▪ Yes
If Yes, you will have to fill in the Default and Maximum Commission Rate.

NOTE: Commission control setup is free of charge and is done by our Data Processing Center (DPC). DPC
validates the commission % enter by the agent against the Default and Maximum Commission Rate setup. The
validation is done when DPC receives information from GDS.
If the commission rate reported is in discrepancy with the commission control setup at DPC level the commission
rate is adjusted accordingly*.

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*Example: Max 1%, Def 0.5%
With this setup any commission rate entered by the agent that is within the range will be accepted by DPC and
reported to BSP as such, without any modification. However, if the agent enters a % higher than 1%, for example
2%, then our system will apply the value that you have setup as default %, in this example the agent would get 0.5%.

4.4 Does your Airline wish to participate in any Net Remit scheme?
The options are:
▪ No
▪ Yes

If you select Yes, we will advise DPC that your Airline wishes to use Net Remit.

There are 5 Net Remit methods available - each BSP can have one (or more) methods available. There are some
markets where Net Remit is not available.

Net Remit offers more flexible commercial agreements compared to normal Commission Control.

Note that there is a charge applied to the Net Remit transactions that you can consult it in the previously mentioned
“BSP CASS CODING & MITA PRICE LIST”.

C5. Credit Card Processing Information

5.1 Does your Airline accept Payment Cards for BSP tickets issuance by Travel Agents?
The options are:
▪ No
▪ Yes

In case the Airline accepts credit card(s) as a form of payment, please select Yes and select the credit card(s)
that you accept.

5.2 Does your Airline wish to join BSP Electronic Credit Card Billing Scheme (ECCB) where BSP procedures
card clearing files and forwards them to your Acquirer or processor?
The options are:
▪ No
▪ Yes

If Yes, please provide the merchant number and the corresponding acquirer for each credit card brand.

NOTE: this section will appear only if ECCB is not a self-service in selected BSP. If ECCB is a self-service, you will
be requested to update your credit card processing information directly in BSPLink once the joining process is
completed in order to be able to process Credit Card transactions.

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 If you accept credit cards but do not use ECCB, the transaction details will be reported only to the airline in
the BSP billing files, not to any bank/acquirer. This means that the Airline is in charge to recover the money,
according to their best practice, based on the information provided. There is no automatic collection for credit
card sales.

C6. Additional Information - applicable only to some countries

Some countries require specific information; therefore, this sub-section is used to collect the information
needed.
Below you can find example for Brazil where the VAT information has been removed from the sub-section C2
(Airline Information) due to the complexity in the country and a specific sub-section C6 has been added for
additional information.

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At this stage you can either Save Draft and Leave or proceed to the final section by clicking on Next.

It is possible to proceed to the next section even if not all the mandatory fields have been completed,
however, you will not be able to submit the form if any of the mandatory fields is missing.

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Section D: Submit to IATA

This section is split in 4 sub-sections:

▪ Application status
▪ Bank Mandate
▪ Additional Requirements for BSP XX (will only appear for some BSP Countries)
▪ Agreements BSP
▪ Terms and conditions

D1. Application status

If the mandatory information in section C was not fully completed, then you will receive the below message. In this
case please return to the previous section and complete the missing information.

If the information in section C was fully completed, then you will receive the below message. In this case please
continue with the Bank Mandate sub-section.

D2. Bank Mandate

Please indicate to us, which type of bank instructions you want for the operation.

NOTE: If ICCS is not available in the BSP operation that you are applying to join, only local bank mandate will be
available by default and the below mentioned question will not appear.

Does your Airline wish to join ICCS (IATA Currency Clearance Service) in this market?

▪ NO
If you select No, it means that the airline will use a Local Bank Mandate in the currency of the BSP operation.
Once you have selected No, a link will appear enabling you to download the Bank Mandate form.
You should complete it according to the instructions and attach a scanned copy of the local bank mandate
to the BSP joining application using the “Choose File” button.

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 ▪ YES
If you select Yes, it means that the airline will use ICCS (IATA Currency Clearance Service) service to collect funds
for this BSP market. ICCS is the global cash management service that enables airline Treasurers to centrally control
and repatriate their world-wide sales funds. For more information, please visit ICCS page www.iata.org/iccs.

Once you have selected Yes, a link will appear enabling you to download the ICCS form to add a new operation in
ICCS. You should complete it according to the instructions included in the form itself and attach a scanned copy
to the BSP joining application using the “Choose File” button.

NOTE: ICCS is not available in all countries. You can consult the available operations by downloading document
“ICCS Countries” from tab Support > Documents.

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In case you are not yet a Member of ICCS (you are not using ICCS in any other BSP/CASS country) the below
information will appear to advise you what documents are required to become ICCS Member. IATA will advise
you accordingly once you have submitted the application.

D3. Additional Requirements for BSP XX

Some BSP territories require specific documents. This sub-section will only appear when applicable and is used
to collect the documents that are needed; below you can see example for Russia.

D4. Agreements BSP

This sub-section will appear only in case that any of the following Agreements (Resolutions) needs to be signed:
▪ Counterindemnity Agreement (CI) – Resolution 850, Attachment C: All participants must sign this
agreement as a condition to join BSP according to the Resolution 850. For all Airlines in BSP the CI must
be signed once only for all BSPs.
▪ Form of Concurrence (FOC) – Resolution 850, Attachment E: to be signed once for all BSPs by non-IATA
Members only.
▪ Form of Application (FOA) – Resolution 850, Attachment D: signed by non-IATA Members only for each
BSP the carrier wishes to participate in.

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If any agreement(s) appears for download on the online application form as shown below, it means that IATA
currently doesn’t hold valid agreement(s) for your airline. Please download the agreement that is being requested,
complete it and have two originals signed by your company’s CEO, CFO or Director General. Please attach a
scanned copy to the application for review. You will be asked to send two originals of each agreement
to IATA.

D4. Terms & conditions

Please, read and accept IATA terms and conditions, by checking the box, before submitting the form:

Once you complete all the information above, please submit your application to IATA clicking in the button
Submit to IATA. The joining process will only start after you have submitted the application to IATA.

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Additional information

BSP Joining fee:

Upon validation of the joining documents, the applicable invoice will be issued and payment will be required either
via ICH for Clearing House members or bank transfer for non-ICH airlines.

Multi-Country BSP joining Fee

Airlines may choose to join a pre-defined set of markets (minimum of 10 countries/operations) for which they agree
to pay a lump-sum fee, with a 40% discount on the normal joining fee published in the ISS Price List. The discounted
joining fee price applies only if the pre-defined set of markets are implemented at the same time.

What documents are necessary to apply for BSP Participation apart from the online joining application,
resolution agreements and bank mandate?

▪ Documents for Due Diligence

As part of the IATA “know your customer” program all BSP participants (Airlines and GSAs) need to be reviewed
and cleared by our Corporate Compliance department in order to be able to participate in BSP. Once completed,
due diligence clearance is valid for 12 months. If the Airline or the GSA is not cleared, then, you will be required to
provide IATA with the following documentation:
-Certificate of Incorporation/Registration (COI, COR)
-Breakdown of shareholders and percentages, i.e. the shareholding structure

These documents can be issued in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Arabic; otherwise please
send along an official translation to English, stamped by a translator.
Please be aware that if needed, our compliance department can require additional documentation.

▪ Additional requirement forms

For some countries a specific form is needed, IATA will provide this form once the application is received from
the airline and the form should be provided as a scanned copy through the joining application or in original if
requested.

▪ GSA Declaration
If the beneficiary of the bank account that will be used in a specific BSP operation is the airline’s GSA, then a
declaration will be required to be provided by the airline confirming that they have appointed the GSA for the BSP
market in concern.

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