Reconfirmation

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. 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. "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. "VI. Reconfirming". Air travelers' fly-rights (Third revised ed.). Washington D.C., USA: Civil Aeronautics Board. 1976. p. 13. hdl:2027/uc1.c101988132.
  5. 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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