In tourism, reconfirmation is a contractual requirement that the traveller must explicitly re-notify to the seller that they still intend to use their reservation.[1][2] If the traveller fails to reconfirm, their reservation might be cancelled. The term is mostly used in commercial aviation.[1]

Airlines

Several airlines require the traveller to perform reconfirmation procedures, even though the airline ticket has already been reserved, paid, confirmed, issued, partially checked-in and flown. A typical reconfirmation rule is: for each flight (or more precisely, a "leg"[1]) within the trip, the traveller must explicitly re-notify ("reconfirm") to the airline,[3] by telephone or at the airlines' counter,[4] that the traveller still intends to take the reserved flight. The call must be done within a determined range of time in advance of the flight. Example deadlines are: 6[5] to 72[3] hours. The earliest acceptable timing is not mentioned, but merely checking-in the previous part of the trip does not count as a reconfirmation for the latter part. If the traveller fails to reconfirm their flight reservation, the airline may cancel it.[3] This also means that if the traveller is forcefully deboarded ("involuntary deboarding", or "bumping", in jargon) from a flight because of the airline's overbooking, the traveller can not receive the standard compensation.[6]

The reconfirmation rule is an attempt to reduce no-shows.[5] Airlines tried several penalties such as reconfirmation, and no-show penalty charges. The reconfirmation system began in 1952.[5] It was hated from the beginning, and the policy was frequently revised and inconsistent.[5][7]

During the 1970s, travellers were strongly advised to reconfirm,[4] as cancellations actually happened,[4] even on domestic flights.[8] Since the 1990s, some guidebooks told that domestic flights do not need reconfirmation.[9] By 2000, there was a notion that reconfirmation became something of the past, and travellers who actually did reconfirm may have decreased.[10] However, as of 2021, it is still allowed to mandate reconfirmation, so the risk of being cancelled remains.[3]

Each arline has different reconfirmation policies, which are stated in their Contract of carriage. For a ticket that contains multiple flights operated by different airlines, one flight may not require reconfirmation, yet others may do. Each airline and each flight have different rules.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Beaver, Allan (2013). "reconfirmation (preview)". Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. A Dictionary of Travel and Tourism. Archived from the original on 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  2. ↑ "IATA Passenger Glossary of Terms" (xlsx). IATA. 2018-07-15. Row 665 "Reconfirmation". Archived from the original on 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-08-03. (link can be found on the right bar under "Related Links" on IATA Passenger Standards Conference (PSC))
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Schedules and Tickets". Fly Rights – A Consumer Guide to Air Travel. US Department of Transportation. 2019-10-04. Archived from the original on 2021-07-19. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  4. 1 2 3 "VI. Reconfirming". Air travelers' fly-rights (Third revised ed.). Washington D.C., USA: Civil Aeronautics Board. 1976. p. 13. hdl:2027/uc1.c101988132.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Frederick, John H (1955). "15. Airline passenger handling – Reconfirmation". Commercial air transportation (4 ed.). Homewood, Illinois, USA: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 418. hdl:2027/mdp.39015023079653.
  6. ↑ "Overbooking – Involuntary Bumping – exceptions". Fly Rights – A Consumer Guide to Air Travel. US Department of Transportation. 2019-10-04. Archived from the original on 2021-07-19. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  7. ↑ Cherington, Paul W. (1958). "Appendix IX-D – The "no-show" penalty problem". Airline price policy; a study of domestic airline passenger fares. Boston, USA: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. p. 431. hdl:2027/mdp.39015023100541.
  8. ↑ Comptroller General of the United States, ed. (1978). "2. How tariffs affect passengers – Tariffs an infringe on consumer protection – Case A". Airlines passengers: are their consumer rights protected? : By the Comptroller General Report to the Congress of the United States. Washington D.C., USA: U.S. General Accounting Office. pp. 5, 8. hdl:2027/uiug.30112012413966.
  9. ↑ Birnbaum, Stephen (1989). Birnbaum's Great Britain, 1990. Houghton Mifflin. p. 23. ISBN 9780395511480. (URL is Google Books)
  10. ↑ Airline customer service : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 28, 2000. Washington D.C., USA: U.S. Government Printing Office. 2004. p. 47. hdl:2027/uc1.b5183360.
  11. ↑ "Contract of Carriage: U.S." Delta Air Lines, Inc. 2021-02-18. E) Compensation For Involuntary Denied Boarding. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  12. ↑ "Conditions of carriage". American Airlines. 2021-04-29. Oversold flights – Involuntary denied boarding. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  13. ↑ "Do I need to reconfirm my Lufthansa flight?". Lufthansa. Retrieved 2021-08-03. It is not necessary to reconfirm your booking for Lufthansa flights.
  14. ↑ "General Terms & Conditions – Conditions of Carriage for Passengers and Baggage (flight ticket GCC)". Lufthansa. Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft. 2021-07-01. 5.5 Reconfirmation of Reservations. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  15. ↑ "Contract of Carriage Document". United Airlines, Inc. 2021-04-13. Rule 25 Denied Boarding Compensation – Compensation for Passengers Denied Boarding Involuntarily – d. EXCEPTIONS. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  16. ↑ "Do I need to reconfirm my online reservations?". Ethiopian Airlines. Frequently Asked Questions – Online Booking. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  17. ↑ "Flight Reconfirmation Requirement". Kenya Airways. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
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