BSP

Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP)

The Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) is a standardised system for airlines and agents, providing them with a simplified approach to the selling, reporting and administration of passenger air transportation. It is established under the general jurisdiction of the Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf), delegated to the BSP Committee (BSPC) and co-ordinated by the Agency Administrator/Plan Management.

Agents are able to:

• Issue neutral Standard Traffic Documents (STD) on behalf of all BSP Airlines, in accordance with their Sales Agency Agreements.
  • Report with a minimum of effort, their sales made on behalf of BSP Airlines to a central EDP Centre, which produces one billing for each Agent’s sales in a given period, requiring only one remittance per Agent and per period.
  • Computes the division of the Agents’ remittances to each BSP Airline, allowing one single settlement, within an agreed time frame.

Benefits of the BSP

• Simplification: The Agent is assured of a steady and pre-determined supply of neutral Standard Traffic Documents. The Agent uses the same Standard Traffic Documents on behalf of all BSP Airlines. The Agent issues one single sales report to one central point and effects one single remittance
  • Savings: Training of Agents is simpler and shorter, due to one set of standard procedures. Centralisation of the processing and of the distribution of STDs reduces costs and allows for better control. Investigations by BSP Manager, who is empowered to take immediate action on behalf of BSP Airlines, allows for faster solutions to problems.
  • Control: The control system embodied in the BSP presents the following advantages: Billing and billing analyses of uniform presentation for Airlines and for Agents are rapidly produced by a neutral billing/collection agency. Airlines and Agents benefit from having the monitoring of Irregularity and Default effected by a neutral BSP Manager.
  • Automation Potential: Automation of back office functions is rendered by a single accounting system. BSP enables and encourages the use of the most modern automated ticket issuing devices, thereby economising in time and money, whilst presenting the customer with an attractive and legible ticket.

Participation

Participation in a BSP is open to all Airlines serving the country/ area concerned, or having placed stocks of their Traffic Documents with Agents there, provided they agree to the rules of the BSP.

The BSP provides Agents with stocks of neutral Standard Traffic Documents (STDs) and Standard Administrative Forms (SAFs) for use on behalf of all BSP Airlines.

The STDs are validated upon issuance: automated tickets by the issuing machine; manually issued documents, by using a ticket printer that prints on the document the ticketing airline identification, the Agent code and the date of issue.

Agents report their sales, exchanges, refunds and other accounting transactions to the

Processing Centre at prescribed intervals, through a Sales Transmittal.

Upon receipt of the sales Transmittals from Agents, the processing Centre prepares Billings and sends them to Agents and BSP Airlines.

Agents pay their billings into the BSP clearing account by each remittance date. BSP settles with the Airlines. The Processing Centre and the Clearing Bank report all discrepancies to the BSP Manager who, in accordance with the sales Agency Rules, deals with Irregularity and Default Procedures. BSP Airlines continue to monitor their Agents’ ticket sales and take any corrective action where deemed necessary.