Forward Travel Management
incorporating Yorks Business Travel

Licences and Accreditation

IATA

Air transport is one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is its global trade organisation. Over 60 years, IATA has developed the commercial standards that built a global industry. Today, IATA’s mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry. Its members comprising of over 240 airlines - the world’s leading passenger and cargo airlines among them - representing 94 percent of scheduled international air traffic.

The purpose of Accreditation is to formally recognise travel agents that are authorised to sell and issue international airline tickets.

Various responsibilities are involved. Primarily, Accredited agents are accepting payments from customers on behalf of the airlines whose tickets are issued. It is essential that customers and airlines can rely on those agents for tickets to be issued according to the required standards, and for payments to reach the airlines in a timely manner.

The Accreditation process has a set of criteria that need to be achieved. They are global in nature, but may be adapted to meet local requirements.

 

ABTA

ABTA, The Travel Association, is the organisation which represents UK travel agents and tour operators responsible for the sale of around over 90% of package holidays and approximately 45% of independent travel arrangements. It’s ABTA’s role to ensure that the customer benefits from consistently high standards of trading practice in the travel industry; that the standards of service and business throughout the membership are of the highest calibre. As such, ABTA’s famous symbol has come to represent choice and value.

ABTA Members operate under our strict code of conduct to promote customers best interests. So, when you see the ABTA symbol you can be confident that the descriptions of your travel arrangements have been compiled under comprehensive guidelines set by us to ensure clarity and accuracy. ABTA apply the same amount of care when checking Members’ finances, too, reducing the risk of anything going wrong.

 

ATOL

ATOL is a protection scheme for flights and air holidays, managed by the Civil Aviation Authority (“CAA”). Most firms who sell air travel in the UK are required by law to hold a licence called an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (“ATOL”).

If you've booked and contracted with a tour operator for a complete air holiday package or just a flight, ATOL protects you from losing money or being stranded abroad if the tour operator goes out of business. All licensed firms have to lodge bonds with the CAA so that if they go out of business, the CAA can give refunds to people who can’t travel and arrange for people abroad to finish their holidays and fly home. There's also a Government-backed fund called the Air Travel Trust that steps in if any ATOL bond isn’t enough to look after everyone affected by the failure.

 

ISO9001:2000

ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organisation for Standards and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) would include:

  • a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business;
  • monitoring processes to ensure they are effective;
  • keeping adequate records;
  • checking output for defects, with appropriate corrective action where necessary;
  • regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness;
  • facilitating continual improvement

A company or organisation that has been independently audited and certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001 may publicly state that it is "ISO 9001 certified" or "ISO 9001 registered."

Although the standards originated in manufacturing they are now employed across a wide range of other types of organisations. A "product", in ISO vocabulary, can mean a physical object, or services, or software. In fact, according to ISO in 2004, "service sectors now account by far for the highest number of ISO 9001:2000 certificates - about 31% of the total"

 

ITM

The Institute of Travel Management is the leading professional body for buyers, managers and suppliers of business travel in the UK and Ireland. Founded in 1956, ITM’s members now account for £6 billion in business travel expenditure every year, which equates to over 25% of the total market.

The membership represents a diverse range of interests in the UK business travel sector, the corporate spend of which is currently estimated to be approximately £25 billion pa. ITM has over 1,000 members, two thirds of whom hold responsibility for the purchase of business travel services for their organisation. ITM membership is also open to suppliers of services to the business travel industry.

 

IIP

Investors in People provide straightforward, proven frameworks for delivering business improvement through people. Over 30,000 UK organisations are recognised as Investors in People, covering a wide spectrum of UK industries

The Investors in People Standard will gives a framework to ensure companies achieve this. It doesn't matter what size or type of organisation, the Investors in People Standard is there to help improve the way it works. Organisations have to meet the same criteria – or 'indicators' – as other organisations, but the Standard recognises that each will meet them in their own way. Investors in People recognises that organisations use different means to achieve success through their people. It does not prescribe any one method but provides a framework to help find the most suitable means for achieving success through people.