Passenger Origin-destination Survey - Treatment of "Contract Bulk Fare"
Tickets
Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Airline
Statistics
Number 143
Issue Date: 10/25/90
Effective Date: January 1, 1991
Parts: Part 241
Section: 19.7
Subsection: N.A.
This office is concerned with the numerous Occurrences of zero-fare
tickets appearing in the quarterly Passenger O&D Survey data as
submitted by the reporting air carriers. Several carriers have
attested that a high percentage of the zero fares in their data are
from sampled "contract bulk fare" tickets. We understand that it
is common industry practice not to record the dollar amount of fare
on the face of - these tickets, and furthermore, that it would be
very difficult for the carrier involved to determine the correct
"contract bulk fare" amount and apply it to the records prior to
submission.
It is the intent of the pertinent regulation (14 CPR Part 241, §
19.7) to have the dollar amount of fare reported whenever it
appears on a sampled coupon. We believe that this is being
faithfully accomplished. However, since the common use of
"contract bulk fare", tickets was not anticipated by the regulation,,
provisions to handle these tickets with undisclosed fare amounts
are lacking. Understandably, a zero value has been customarily
reported as the dollar amount of fare.
The Purpose of this directive is to establish a procedure to handle
the "contract bulk fare", situation in a way that satisfies the
Department's needs and is not unduly burdensome to the submitters.
To achieve our goal to categorize or eliminate zero fare records
for which fares were actually paid, reporting carriers are asked
to modify their O&D processing by adopting one of the following
procedures
- if possible, determine the "contract bulk fare" amount and
apply it to the data being reported to D.O.T., or
- if unable to apply the proper fare value, insert 99999 (all
nines) in the dollar-amount-of-fare to serve as a pseudo-
code that will permit the Department to distinguish
"contract bulk fare" tickets.
An appropriate change should be initiated by reporting carriers in
time to have it reflected in their first quarter 1991 submission.
Carriers should include a brief statement with this submission
stating which of the two procedures they have implemented. Any
carrier that has been told previously to report "contract bulk
fares" using an approved procedure shall continue to do so.
This Directive is issued under authority delegated in Part
385.27(b) of the Department´s regulations (14 CFR 385.27(b)).
If you have any questions on this material, please call Mr. Dick
King (202) 366-4375 or Mr. Richard Strite on (202) 366-4373.
Robin A. Caldwell
Director,
Office of Airline Statistics, RSPA
Attachment
§ 19–7 Passenger origin-destination survey.
(a) All U.S. large certificated air car-riers conducting scheduled passenger operations
(except helicopter carriers) shall participate in a Passenger Origin-Destination
( O & D) Survey covering domestic and international operations, as described in the
instructions manual entitled, Instructions to Air Carriers for Collecting and
Reporting Passenger Ori-gin-Destination Survey Statistics (Appendix A to this
section), and in Passenger Origin-Destination Directives issued by the
Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of Airline
Information (OAI). Copies of these Instructions and Directives are provided
to each large carrier participating in the Survey. Copies are also available from the
Office of Airline Information, K–25, Room 4125, U.S. Department of Transportation,
400 Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 20590.
(b) Those participating air carriersthat have access to automatic data processing
(ADP) services shall utilize magnetic tape, cartridge, floppy diskette or other ADP
media for transmitting the prescribed data. Those carriers without ADP capability should
contact the Office of Airline Information for further instructions
((202) 366–4373).
(c) A statistically valid sample oflight coupons shall be selected for reporting
purposes. The sample shall consist of at least 1 percent of the total lifted ticket
flight coupons for all large domestic markets listed in the Instructions and 10 percent
for all others—in-cluding domestic and international markets. The sample shall be
selected and reported in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (a) of their
section, except that the participating O & D carriers with nonstandard ticketing
procedures, or other special operating characteristics, may propose alternative
procedures. Such departures from standard O & D Survey practices shall not be authorized
unless approved in writing by the Director, Office of Airline Information under the
procedures in § 1–2 of 14 CFR part 241. The data to be recorded and reported
from selected lifted ticket flight coupons, as stipulated in the Instructions and
Directives shall include the following data elements: Point of origin, carrier
on each flight-coupon stage, fare-basis code for each flight-coupon stage, points of
stopover or connection (interline and intraline), point of destination, number of
passengers, and total dollar value of ticket (fare plus tax).
(d) Data covering the operations offoreign air carriers that are similar to the
information collected in the Passenger Origin-Destination Survey are generally not
available to the Department, the U.S. carriers, or U.S. interests. Therefore, because
of the damaging competitive impact on U.S. carriers and the adverse effect upon the
public interest that would result from unilateral disclosure of the U.S. survey data,
the Department has determined its policy to be that the international data in the
Passenger Origin-Destina-tion Survey shall be disclosed only as follows:
(1) To an air carrier directly partici-pating in and contributing input data to
the Survey or to a legal or consulting firm designated by an air carrier to use on
its behalf O & D data in connection with a specific assignment by such carrier.
(2) To parties to any proceeding be-fore the Department to the extent that such
data are relevant and material to the issues in the proceeding upon a determination
to this effect by the Administrative Law Judge or by the De-partment’s
decision-maker. Any data to which access is granted pursuant to this section may be
introduced into evidence subject to the normal rules of admissability of evidence.
(3) To agencies and other componentsof the U.S. Government.
(4) To other persons upon a showingthat the release of the data will serve
specifically identified needs of U.S. users which are consistent with U.S. interests.
(5) To foreign governments and for-eign users as provided in formal reciprocal
arrangements between the foreign and U.S. governments for the exchange of comparable
O & D data.
(e) The Department reserves the right to make such other disclosures of the O & D
data as is consistent with its regulatory functions and responsibilities.
All questions, comments, extension and waiver requests should be
addressed to:
Office of Airline Information, K–25,
Room 4125, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh St., SW., Washington,
DC 20590, Telephone (202) 366–9059.
Appendix A To § 19 7 Instructions To Air Carriers For Collecting And Reporting
Passenger Origindestination Survey Statistics
I. General Description Of O&D Survey
A. Flow Chart of O&D Reporting From Tickets
B. Narrative Description
A single O&D Survey is conducted
continuously by the large U.S. certificated air carriers. Foreign air carriers do not
directly participate in the Survey, although some of their data are captured in the
Survey, since passengers who share a ticketed itinerary between a U.S. carrier and a
foreign carrier may be sampled by the U.S. carrier. The authority for these instructions
is found in 14 CFR part 241, section 19–7, and in the CAB Sunset Act of 1984
(Pub. L. 94–443).
The Survey samples revenue passenger trips moving in
whole or in part on domestic and/or international scheduled services of the carriers
participating in the Survey. In general, these requirements do not apply to small
certificated, all-cargo and all charter carriers.
The source documents for the Survey data are passenger tickets. These data are
collected from the "lifted" flight coupons of tickets (a portion of a
multi-part ticket booklet of three 1 or more coupons, including one for each stage of
the passenger’s trip itinerary which is lifted by the carrier as the passenger
boards a particular flight segment).
The Survey data are taken from the coupon that is lifted by a participating carrier,
unless it is apparent from the lifted coupon that another participating carrier has
already recorded and reported the data, in which instance the ticket coupon is
non-reportable for the second honoring/participating carrier. The complete passenger
itinerary, and related data on type of fare and dollar value of the ticket, is recorded
as one entry from the sampled, reportable flight coupon.
The recording of data from the sampled flight coupon normally consists of
transcribing the information exactly as indicated on the ticket. The detail recorded for
each trip shows the complete routing from the origin city (airport code) to the
destination city (airport code) including, in sequence from the origin, each point
of transfer and stopover (intraline and interline), the summarized fare-basis code
shown for each flight coupon stage of the itinerary, and the total dollar value of
the fare and tax for the entire ticket.
Prior to 1987, the Survey was generally based on a 10-percent sample of passenger
tickets. Beginning July 1, 1987, the Survey is collected primarily on the basis of a
stratified, scientific sample of at least 1 percent of tickets in domestic major
markets and 10 percent of tickets in all other domestic and in all international
city-pair markets. The Survey data are taken from the selected flight coupons of the
tickets sampled: single-coupon or double-coupon round trips in domestic major markets
where the ticket serial number ends in double zero (00) and all other ticket coupons
ending in zero (0). This procedure yields a ‘‘two-tiered" stratified
sample.
Group tickets are included on the basis of a 10-percent sample when the number of
passengers on such a group ticket is 10 or less. Group tickets with more than 10
passengers on each ticket are included on the basis of a 100 percent census,
i.e., all such tickets are sampled, regardless of serial number, and the total
data listed are conformed to a 10 percent sample for inclusion in the O&D Survey.
Following the selection of reportable flight coupons and the recording of data,
each participating carrier shall edit and summarize 2 the data into a quarterly report
to the Department.
II. Effective Date Of Instructions
These data collection and reporting instructions are effective on and after July 1,
1987 and apply to all flight coupons lifted on or after July 1, 1987.
III. Carriers Participating In Survey
A. Participating carriers. As defined in section 19–7 of the
Department’s Economic Regulations (14 CFR part 241), the participants in the
O&D Survey include all large certificated air carriers conducting scheduled passenger
services (except helicopter carriers). These participating carriers collect and report
data in accordance with these Instructions, and supplemental Passenger
Origin-Destination Directives that may be issued periodically. The list of
participating carriers will be issued by reporting directive under the authority in
14 CFR 385.27(b).
B. Amendments to list of participating carriers. As new carriers begin
service, they will be required to file O&D Survey Data. These carriers will not be
added to the participating carrier list automatically, but will be added when the
next annual review is made.
IV. Submission Of Reports
A. Period covered by reports. Reports are to be filed for each calendar
quarter of the year as shown below:
1st quarter |
Jan. 1 through Mar. 31. |
2nd quarter |
Apr. 1 through June 30. |
3rd quarter |
July 1 through Sept. 30. |
4th quarter |
Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. |
B. Filing date for reports. Reports are to be filed with the Department on
or before the dates listed below. The mailing address is on the inside cover to these
instructions.
1st quarter |
May 15 |
2nd quarter |
Aug. 15 |
3rd quarter |
Nov. 15 |
4th quarter |
Feb. 15 |
C. Format of report. The report may be submitted in any one of the following
formats:
(1) ADP media including magnetic tapesand floppy discs.4
(2) Hard copy BTS Form 2787, in type-written form, for carriers that lack
computer capability. Sample formats of the required data appear in Sections
IX and XII. Supplies of blank Form 2787 are available, upon request, from
the Director, Office of Airline Information (address on inside cover). Any
reasonable facsimile of Form 2787 will be acceptable in lieu of Form 2787,
if approved in advance by the Director.
D. Number of copies of report to be filed. A participating carrier shall
file with the Department a single copy of its quarterly O&D data report. When ADP
submissions are transmitted, the package is to contain a transmittal letter describing
the contents, and stating the overall record and passenger counts included in the
submission. Each submission is to be labeled externally as to submitting carrier and
time period of the O&D Survey data.
E. Address for filing reports. Reports should be submitted to the Director,
Office of Airline Information (address on inside cover).
V. Selection Of Sample And Recording Of Data.5
A. Sampling Basis. Each participating car rier in this O&D Survey shall
search all listed flight coupons, whether the coupons are its own ticket stock or on
the ticket stock of another U.S. or foreign carrier (either standard IATA and ARC
ticket stock or nonstandard ticket stock), and is to select for reporting
purposes the following flight coupons:
(1) Major domestic markets. All single-pas-senger flight coupons that are
either a single flight coupon ticket or part of a round trip, two coupon ticket where
the ticket serial number ends in the digits double-zero (00). NOTE.—The list of
major domestic markets will be issued by reporting directive under the authority in
14 CFR 385.27(b).
(2) International markets and all other domestic markets.
(a) All single-passenger flight coupons with ticket serial numbers ending with
the digit zero (0);
(b) Those group-ticket flight coupons with10 or fewer passengers with ticket
serial numbers ending with the digit zero (0);
(c) Those group-ticket flight coupons with11 or more passengers without regard
to serial number; and
(d) Itineraries in major domestic marketsthat comprise more than two coupons
are sampled on a uniform 10 percent basis, by selecting all ticket serial numbers
ending with the digit zero (0).
B. Selection of Reportable Flight Coupons. The flight coupons identified
above are to be examined to isolate the reportable flight coupons, i.e. coupons from
which data are to be recorded. Flight coupon data are reported only by the first
honoring and participating carrier (operating carrier). Such carriers shall report
the required data for the entire ticketed itinerary.
If a participating carrier has preceded an examining carrier on any stage in the
trip itinerary, including any stage in a conjunction itinerary and any stage in a
reissued ticket (either before or after reissue) that coupon is not reportable.
For conjunction tickets, the ticket number for the first ticket booklet determines
if the conjunction tickets should be reported in the Survey. Otherwise, conjunction
tickets do not require special treatment and are governed by the rules for regular
tickets.
No adjustment is made in the Survey for alterations or changes in the trip itinerary
subsequent to the stage covered by the reportable coupon.
C. Optional Use of Other Sampling Procedures.
(1) Alternative sampling procedures or al-ternative O&D data systems may be
proposed by participating carriers with nonstandard ticketing procedures, or other
special operating characteristics. Data reported under proposed alternative procedures
must approximate the usefulness and statistical validity of the O&D Survey.
(2) Such departures from the prescribedO&D Survey practices shall not be authorized
unless approved in writing by the Director, Office of Airline Information (address
inside front cover). The proposed alternative O&D Survey procedures must be described
in detail in the letter requesting the waiver.
D. Recording of Data from Reportable Flight Coupons.
(1) The following items are to be reported from the reportable flight coupons:
(a) Point of origin,
(b) Operating carrier on each flight stage(if unknown, identify ticketed
carrier),
(c) Ticketed carrier on each flight stage,
(d) Fare-basis on each flight coupon, C, D,F, G, X or Y,
(e) Points of stopover or connection (inter-line and intraline),
(f) Point of destination,
(g) Number of passengers, and
(h) Total dollar value of ticket (fare plustax and other charges, such as Passenger
Facility Charges).
(2) The individual items are to be recordedin the sequence of occurrence in the
itinerary as follows:
(a) All entries for points (airport codes 6) in an itinerary are to be
recorded in three-let-ter airport code data to fit into the stage-length limitation
(seven or twenty-three stages at the carrier’s option), all airport codes are
to be reported, including data on commuter, foreign, intra-state and other
carriers’ portions of itineraries. Normally codes are recorded as they appear
on the ticket. However, if a code is obviously incorrect, record the correct
code. For instance, if a ticket is coded DCA–NYC or Washington/Na-tional to
New York when the flight stage actually operated from Washington, Dulles to Newark
(EWR), record the correct airport code. When only name spellings of a city appear
on the ticket for multi-airport cities (such as Washington, New York, San Francisco,
or Los Angeles), record the specific three letter airport code. In cases where
two airport codes are shown on the ticket for a point, such as when the passenger
arrives at an airport such as San Francisco and departs from another local airport
such as Oakland, record the code for the arrival airport, enter a surface segment
indicator (—) to the departure airport, and record the departure airport code.
(When the surface portion is at the beginning or end of an itinerary, the surface
indicator is to be omitted). For example:
In the above example, the passenger trip stages or segments are compressed into
the maximum of 7 stages so that several intermediate city-pairs (Los Angeles to Seattle
to Anchorage, or LAX—SEA—Anc) and the related carriers have not been
recorded, as prescribed below in this Section V.D.(3)(e). In addition, after the fourth
city-pair (Los An-geles-Salt Lake City), the passenger trip itinerary moves from the
initial four-part ticket booklet onto another ‘‘conjunction" ticket,
and the summary fare code data are not recorded beyond the initial four-part ticket.
(b) All entries for operating and ticketedcarriers for a coupon stage of an
itinerary are to be recorded using two character IATA-assigned or DOT codes, as in
the above example. Note that the fare code summary was properly inserted after the
ticketed carrier’s code, i.e., UA for United Air Lines and Y for unrestricted
coach class service. When a two-character carrier code is shown on the ticket, record
that code for the ticketed carrier. However, if a code is obviously incorrect, record
the correct carrier code. If the reporting carrier does not know the operating carrier
on a downline code-share segment, it would use the ticketed carrier’s code for
both the operating and ticketed carriers. The reporting carrier is not responsible for
knowing the operating carrier of a downline code-share where it is not a party to the
code-share segment. Except for the infrequent compression of data to fit into the
stage-length limitation (7 or 23 stages at the car-rier’s option), all carrier
codes are to be recorded, including data on air taxis, commuters, intra-state, and
other carrier portions of itineraries. On tickets involving interchange service or
other cooperative carrier arrangements, the juncture point(s) where the passenger moves
from one carrier system to another is to be recorded as an intermediate point in the
itinerary, even when not shown on the ticket and even though the flight may overfly the
juncture point.
(c) Entries for fare-basis codes are to betaken from the ‘‘fare
basis" and ‘‘fare description" portions of the ticket and
simplified into the appropriate category, as shown below. No attempt shall be made
to determine and record fare-basis codes for that portion of a conjunction ticket
appearing in the ticket. Fare-basis codes are to be recorded in one-character
alphabetic codes. The fare-basis codes are recorded as follows:
C—Unrestricted Business Class
D—Restricted Business Class
F—Unrestricted First Class
G—Restricted First Class
X—Restricted Coach/Economy Class
Y—Unrestricted Coach/Economy Class
U—Unknown (This fare category is used when none is shown on a ticket coupon,
or when a fare category is not discernible, or when two or more carrier fare codes are
compressed into a single stage of a passenger trip).
(d) In recording the number of pas-sengers, each single-passenger ticket is to be
recorded as one passenger. Tickets for infants under two years of age not occupying
a seat are not to be counted. A revenue passenger is defined in Section X.
For group tickets of 10 or fewer passengers per ticket record the actual number
of passengers on each ticket, i.e., either 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. For
group tickets with 11 or more passengers (those sampled at a 100-percent rate) record
the actual number of passengers traveling on each ticket, but keep these entries
separate from the group ticket records with 10 or fewer passengers and from the
single-passenger ticket records. Group tickets with 11 or more passengers are to
be sorted and summarized to combine all passengers for all itineraries which are
identical in every respect, i.e., points, carriers, fare basis codes, and
average dollar value (as defined in paragraph (e), below). The total number of
passengers on each summarized record is to be divided by 10, rounding to the nearest
whole passenger. If the quotient ends in 0.5 or more, raise to the next whole passenger.
If the quotient ends in less than 0.5, drop the fraction. These large group-ticket
records, after division by 10 for compatibility with the other data, are to be merged
with the single-passenger records and with the group-ticket entries from tickets of
10 or fewer passengers for the quarterly O&D Survey report.
(e) The total dollar value shall betaken from the ‘‘Total" box on
each ticket and shall be the sum of the fare plus tax for the entire ticket. Record
this amount in whole U.S. dollars, with the cents dropped. Do not round cents to
nearest whole dollar.
Amounts on tickets stated in foreign currency are to be converted to U.S. dollar
equivalents. For all group tickets, the dollar value to be recorded shall be
the average amount per passenger, determined by dividing the total dollar value for
the entire group by the number of passengers on the group ticket, dropping cents in
the average amount.
(3) The length of the itineraries to be recorded is limited to a maximum of
seven stages or twenty-three stages, at the carrier’s option. This recognizes
that the vast majority of tickets sampled have seven stages or fewer and that the
rare occurrences of extremely lengthy itineraries do not impact the overall Survey
results enough to justify their reporting burden. Therefore, trips longer than these
limits are compressed to fall within the stated maximums. The ticketed origin
and destination are retained, but the intermediate routing is compressed by
applying the following rules, in sequence:
(a) Combine any contiguous open, un-known carrier, or surface stages eliminating
the connecting point, and ignoring the fare-basis codes, if different:
(b) Combine any contiguous stagesvia the same non-U.S. carrier, eliminating the
connecting point, and ignoring the fare-basis codes, if different;
(c) Combine any contiguous stagesvia different non-U.S. carrier, making the
carrier ‘‘UK", eliminating the connecting point, and ignoring
fare-basis codes, if different:
(d) Combine any contiguous stagesvia the same U.S. carrier, eliminating
the connecting point, and ignoring the fare-basis codes, if different, and;
(e) If the trip, after applying the foursteps above, is still too long, record
the compressed routing through to the stage length limitation city (seventh or
twenty-third city), enter UK as the final carrier, and then record the ticketed
destination as the next (the 8th or 24th) city.
VI. Summarization Of Recorded Data
A. General. Prior to the submission of each quarterly report to the
Department, each carrier is to summarize the data in accordance with the rules
in Section VI.B. In special hardship cases, carriers may submit a waiver request
(with justification under Section 1–2 of 14 CFR part 241) requesting permission
to report their flight coupon records exactly as represented on their lifted tickets.
Waiver requests must provide the documentation described in Section VI.C. so that the
Department can develop the necessary procedures and edit routines to ensure the
accuracy and reliability of the overall O&D Survey results. The granting of such
waivers will depend upon the availability of resources for the Department to assume
this additional burden, which can only be determined on a case by case basis, after
evaluating each carrier’s need.
B. Rules for Summarization. Sort the recorded entries into sequence by
the entire record (excluding the passenger field), i.e., by origin, complete
routing (including fare-basis codes), tickets destination, and dollars value of
ticket. All identical records are then to be combined into one summary record.
The number of passengers on the summary record is to be the sum of the passenger
amounts of all the individual records combined. Passengers are only summarized where
records are identical in all respects except in number of passengers including dollar
value of ticket. NOTE: DO NOT SUMMARIZE DOLLARS OVER IDENTICAL RECORDS. This
summarization is to include the entries from group tickets, but only after the
entries for group tickets with 11 or more passengers have been summarized
and divided by 10, as stated in Section V.D.(2)(d). Carriers submitting quarterly
O&D Survey reports on magnetic tapes7 or similar formats such as ‘‘floppy
discs" will follow the ADP INSTRUCTIONS in Section IX. Carriers filing reports
on hardcopy BTS Forms 2787 are to enter, on the last page of the report, the overall
total of the number of passengers in the report.
C. Waiver Requests. Requests for permission to depart from the required
O&D Survey procedures should include a procedural statement describing the
process the carrier proposed to employ in examining, selecting and editing
the data from reportable flight coupons for the O&D Survey, as well as a flow chart
diagramming the proposed procedures.
D. Quantity and Quality Controls. Carriers are expected to establish and
maintain continuous quantity and quality controls on the flow of all lifted
flight coupons through their system processes to determine the total number of
coupons handled and the number of reportable coupons selected. Such data
controls and tests have not been specified by the Department, and necessarily must
be developed by each carrier. Each participating carrier shall develop and use on a
continuous basis such control tests as are necessary to ensure that all reportable
coupons are being selected, recorded and reported as intended by these O&D Survey
Instructions. Such controls should extend over all ADP processing, both inhouse and
that from external service bureaus.
VII. Editing Of Recorded Data
A. City and Airport Codes. Prior to submission of O&D Survey reports, each
carrier is to edit the recorded data to validate city and airport codes. This edit is
to verify that the codes recorded are valid official codes, and it is independent of
whether or not the carriers shown actually operated into or out of the airport shown.
Any questions about airport codes should be addressed to the Director, Office of
Airline Information (see inside of cover).
B. Edit Responsibility of Carriers. Each carrier is responsible for
developing edit procedures and internal controls over its data entry and processing
procedures so that valid and reliable data are captured in the O&D Survey inputs and
are properly summarized in the outputs. Since the carriers have many different
statistical systems, it is not practicable for the Department of Transportation to
prescribe specific controls in this area, and each carrier is responsible for
developing the appropriate internal control procedures to edit the O&D Survey data
and ensure the integrity of these data. The Department will control the accuracy of
its processing of the sampled data upon receipt from the carriers.
C. System Documentation of Edits. Carriers are required to maintain written
O&D Survey procedural statements and flow charts. As provided in Section VIII,
these must be established, or recertified as of July 1, 1987, and thereafter when
significant procedural revisions occur.
VIII. Control Of Sample Selection And Data Recording
A. Sample Accuracy and Reliability. In order to maximize the accuracy and
reliability of the sample selection and data recording, each carrier is to:
(1) Develop a written statement de-scribing the procedures it will employ in
examining and selecting reportable flight coupons and in recording, summarizing,
editing, and testing the Survey data.
(2) Submit any proposed changes inthe above procedures to the Depart-ment’s
Office of Airline Information, prior to implementation of such changes.
(3) Establish continuous quantity controls on the flow of all lifted flight
coupons through the carrier’s accounting processing to determine the total
number of coupons handled, and the number of reportable coupons selected. Tests
are to be made continuously to assure that all reportable coupons are being selected
and the data recorded. Such tests should be completed while
the ‘‘lifted" flight coupons (representing earned passenger revenues
for flight segments operated) remain in the possession of the carrier. Establish such
other internal control procedures as are necessary for supervising and monitoring the
accuracy of the recording of data from reportable flight coupons.
B. Staff Review. The OAI staff will review the carrier procedures and
practices and may request modifications or the use of special procedures necessary
to improve the sample or to bolster the controls for accuracy and reliability.
IX. ADP Instructions
Each carrier electing to submit its Survey reports in machine listing form or
magnetic media in lieu of hardcopy BTS Form 2787 is to be governed by the following
instructions:
A. Instructions for Submitting Records onMagnetic Media
(1) Identification record. This identification record is to include the
reporting carrier and the reporting period. It is designed to fall at the beginning
of through 200. The record is to be in the each file when sorted on columns 7 format
shown as follows:7
Passenger Count |
1-6 |
1. Passenger field must contain leading zeros, and no blanks. |
1st City Code |
7-9 |
|
1ST Operating Carrier |
10-11 |
|
1ST Ticketed Carrier |
12-13 |
2. City field contains the 3-letter alpha code for the airport in the first 3
positions. |
Fare Basis Code |
14 |
|
2ND City Code |
15-17 |
|
2nd Operating Carrier |
18-19 |
|
2nd Ticketed Carrier |
20-21 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
22 |
|
3rd City Code |
23-25 |
|
3rd Operating Carrier |
26-27 |
|
3rd Ticketed Carrier |
28-29 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
30 |
|
4th City Code |
31-33 |
3. Ticketed and operating carrier fields are to contain the 2 character air carrier
code. An unknown carrier is to be coded ‘‘UK" and surface carrier is
to be coded ‘‘— —" (dash dash).
|
4th Operating Carrier |
34-35 |
|
4th Ticketed Carrier |
36-37 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
38 |
|
5th City Code |
39-41 |
|
5th Operating Carrier |
42-43 |
|
5th Ticketed Carrier |
44-45 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
46 |
|
6th City Code |
47-49 |
4. Fare basis code is a one position alpha code. |
6th Operating Carrier |
50-51 |
|
6th Ticketed Carrier |
52-53 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
54 |
5. Portion of record for sorting, summarizing, and sequencing includes columns 7
through 200.
|
7th City Code |
55-57 |
|
7th Operating Carrier |
58-59 |
|
7th Ticketed Carrier |
60-61 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
62 |
|
8th City Code |
63-65 |
|
8th Operating Carrier |
66-67 |
6. Dollar amount in positions 196–200 is right justified.
|
8th Ticketed Carrier |
68-69 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
70 |
7. Positions 66–193 are used only by those carriers who want to report more
data, and are not compressing to 7 stages (see § V.D. (3) for compressing rules.
|
9th City Code |
71-73 |
|
9th Operating Carrier |
74-75 |
|
9th Ticketed Carrier |
76-77 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
78 |
|
10th City Code |
79-81 |
|
10th Operating Carrier |
82-83 |
|
10th Ticketed Carrier |
84-85 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
86 |
|
11th City Code |
87-89 |
|
11th Operating Carrier |
90-91 |
|
11th Ticketed Carrier |
92-93 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
94 |
|
12th City Code |
95-97 |
|
12th Operating Carrier |
98-99 |
|
12th Ticketed Carrier |
100-101 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
102 |
|
13th City Code |
103-105 |
|
13th Operating Carrier |
106-107 |
|
13th Ticketed Carrier |
108-109 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
110 |
|
14th City Code |
111-113 |
|
14th Operating Carrier |
114-115 |
|
14th Ticketed Carrier |
116-117 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
118 |
|
15th City Code |
119-121 |
|
15th Operating Carrier |
122-123 |
|
15TH Ticketed Carrier |
124-125 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
126 |
|
16th City Code |
127-129 |
|
16th Operating Carrier |
130-131 |
|
16th Ticketed Carrier |
132-133 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
134 |
|
17th City Code |
135-137 |
|
17th Operating Carrier |
138-139 |
|
17th Ticketed Carrier |
140-141 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
142 |
|
18th City Code |
143-145 |
|
18th Operating Carrier |
146-147 |
|
18th Ticketed Carrier |
148-149 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
150 |
|
19th City Code |
151-153 |
|
19th Operating Carrier |
154-155 |
|
19th Ticketed Carrier |
156-157 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
158 |
|
20th City Code |
159-161 |
|
20th Operating Carrier |
162-163 |
|
20th Ticketed Carrier |
164-165 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
166 |
|
21st City Code |
167-169 |
|
21st Operating Carrier |
170-171 |
|
21st Ticketed Carrier |
172-173 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
174 |
|
22nd City Code |
175-177 |
|
22nd Operating Carrier |
178-179 |
|
22nd Ticketed Carrier |
180-181 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
182 |
|
23rd City Code |
183-185 |
|
23rd Operating Carrier |
186-187 |
|
23rd Ticketed Carrier |
188-189 |
|
Fare Basis Code |
190 |
|
24th City Code |
191-193 |
|
Blank |
194-195 |
|
US Value of Ticket in $ |
196-200 |
|
Reporting carrier |
1–2 |
Alpha code. |
Reporting period: Year |
3–4 |
Tens and units position. |
Quarter |
5 |
1, 2, 3, or 4. |
Blanks |
6–200 |
|
(2) Detail record.
(a) All records are to be summarized on the complete itinerary 8 (columns 7
through 200) and the summary record only for each itinerary is to be submitted.
The tape file, including the identification record, is to be in sequence by complete
itinerary.
(3) Magnetic Tape Instructions:
(a) All tapes are to be written using the standard
IBM extended binary coded decimal interchange code (EBCDIC).
(b) The recording density can be either 6250 or 1600 B.P.I.
(c) All tape will contain standard IBM volume header, and trailer records.
(d) External labels will contain the carrier, name, the report date, file
identification, and an address for returning the tapes.
(4) Transmittal letter. The tape shall be accompanied by a transmittal letter
which shows the number of records reported and the total number of passengers contained
in the report.
B. Editing of Tape Records. Prior to submission of data, each carrier is
requested to edit and correct its data so that its O&D Survey report may be as
error-free as is reasonably practicable. The methods to be used in editing are left
to the carriers’ discretion, but with assistance available upon request from the
Department’s Office of Airline Information (OAI). To aid the carriers in
maintaining a current file of editing criteria, OAI will re-issue, as needed, the
city/airport-carrier file to each participating carrier. There will be a five-position
field to denote the city/air-port-carrier. The first three positions denotes the airport
and the last two positions denotes the air carrier.
C. Standard Formats for Floppy Diskor Cartridge Submissions. Carriers should use
the 200 position format with the standard length fields prescribed for magnetic media
submissions. The record layout is detailed in subsection A(1) of this section.
However, to simplify the PC submissions, the submitter may report the dollar value
of the ticket in the field immediately after the last reported city code, rather than
in positions 196–200. Submitters may separate fields by using commas or tabs
(comma delimited ASCII or tab delimited ASCII format).
X. Glossary of Terms
Selected terms used in the foregoing instructions are here defined and explained
in the context of the O&D Survey.
ADP. An abbreviation for automated data processing, which is the term
applied to all forms of machine processed data.
Carrier. Any scheduled air carrier,
U.S. or foreign, that appears on a cou-pon stage in a ticketed itinerary, including
helicopter, air taxi, commuter, intra-Alaska carriers, and intra-state carriers.
City or origin. (See origin.)
Conjunction ticket. Two or more tickets concurrently issued to a passenger
and which together constitute a single contract of carriage.
Connecting point. An intermediate point in an itinerary at which the
passenger deplanes from one flight and boards another flight, either on the same
carrier or from the flight of one carrier to a flight of another carrier, for
continuation of the journey.
Coupon stage. (See flight-coupon stage.)
Destination. The last point in the itinerary and the last point at which
the passenger is to deplane at the completion of the journey. (In roundtrip itineraries,
the destination and the origin are the same.)
Dollar value of ticket. (See total dollar value of ticket.)
Domestic. Itineraries within or between the 50 U.S. States and the District
of Columbia are considered domestic for this Survey.
Fare basis code. The alphabetic code(s) or combination of alphabetic and
numeric codes appearing in the ‘‘Fare basis" box on the flight coupon
which describe the applicable service and discount to which the passenger is entitled.
All fare basis codes are summarized into basic categories; namely C—Unrestricted
Business Class, D—Re-stricted Business Class, F—Unre-stricted First Class,
G—Restricted First Class, X—Restricted Coach/Econ-omy Class,
Y—Unrestricted Coach/ Economy Class, and U—Unknown (This fare category is
used when none is shown on a ticket coupon, or when a fare category is not discernible,
or when two or more carrier fare codes are compressed into a single stage of a passenger
trip).
Fare ladder. The ‘‘For-issuing-office-only" box of a
ticket.
Flight-coupon stage. The portion of an itinerary which lies between two
contiguous points in the itinerary and between which points the passenger is to travel
on a single flight.
Group ticket. A single ticket valid for the transportation of two or more
passengers over the same itinerary.
Interline transfer. An occurrence at an intermediate point in an itinerary
where a passenger changes from one carrier to another carrier, with or without a
stopover.
Intermediate point. Any point in an itinerary, other than the origin or
destination, at which the passenger makes an interline or intraline connection or
stopover.
International. The world area outside the 50 U.S. States and the District
of Columbia. Itineraries between points outside the 50 States are considered as
international for this Survey, as well as itineraries between the 50 States and U.S.
possessions, and between or within U.S. possessions.
Intraline transfer. An occurrence at an intermediate point in an itinerary
where a passenger changes from a flight of one carrier to another flight of that
same carrier, with or without stopover, or where the passenger changes from one
class of service to another class of service on the same flight.
Itinerary. All points in the passenger journey, beginning with the origin,
followed by the routing, and ending with the destination, in the sequence shown on
the ticket.
Operating air carrier. Under a code-share arrangement, the air carrier
whose aircraft and flight crew are used to perform a flight segment.
Origin. The first point in the itinerary and the point where the passenger
first boards a carrier at the beginning of the itinerary.
Participating carrier. A carrier which is governed by the Survey data
collection and reporting instructions contained herein and which is required to
file Survey reports with the Department of Transportation.
Point. A city or airport (always identified by its airport code).
Reissued ticket. A ticket issued in exchange for all or part of the unused
portion of a previously issued ticket.
Reportable flight coupon. A flight coupon in an itinerary in which the
carrier examining the coupon is the first participating carrier to lift a flight
coupon in the itinerary and from which coupon the examining carrier records the
Survey data.
Reporting carrier. The carrier in a given itinerary which has lifted the
reportable flight coupon in that itinerary and which carrier is required to record
the Survey data for that itinerary for the report to the Department.
Revenue passenger. A passenger transported for which more than a service
charge or nominal remuneration is received by the air carrier. Passengers traveling
for a zero fare, because of the frequent flyer or mileage programs are considered
revenue passengers, since the revenue considerations for passenger travel were
included in their previously purchased tickets.
Routing. The carrier on each flight-coupon stage in an itinerary and the
intermediate points of routing stopover or connection (interline or intraline) in
the sequence of occurrence in the movement of the passenger from origin to destination.
The routing also includes fare-basis summary codes on each flight-coupon stage, to
the extent these are available from the ticket.
Scheduled service. Transport service operated on a certificated large air
carrier’s routes pursuant to published flight schedules, including extra
sections of scheduled flights.
Stage. (See flight-coupon stage.)
Ticketed air carrier. Under a code-share arrangement, the air carrier whose
two-character air carrier code is used for a flight segment, whether or not it
actually operates the flight segment.
Total dollar value of ticket. The sum of the fare plus tax for the entire
ticketed itinerary, in whole U.S. dollars with cents dropped. For a group ticket, the
amount is the average per passenger. For fares stated in foreign currency, it is the
equivalent in U.S. dollars.
Transfer. (See interline transfer and intraline transfer.)
XI. Sample of RSPA Form 2787
Passenger Origin-Destination Survey Report
Reporting Carrier: _____________________
(Two letter carrier code)
Reporting Period: _________________________
Car. Fare Code = Two character alphabetic carrier code followed by fare basis code,
such as TWFD, indicating Trans World as the carrier and coach discount as the fare
basis summary group code.
City Code = Three character alphabetic airport code, such as EWR for Newardk, DAK
for Oakland, and SJC for San Jose.
Amount = Dollar amount of ticket, stated in whole U.S. dollars.
No. of passengers = Tickets sampled at one percent are to be multiplied by 10 for
reporting on this form. Note that all passsenger data are presented as a ten percent
sample.
[Amdt. No. 241–55, 52 FR 6529, Mar. 5, 1987, as amended at 60 FR 66723,
66724, Dec. 26, 1995; 62 FR 43280, Aug. 13, 1997]
1 Each ticket booklet is comprised of one or more flight
coupons for passenger travel in a city-pair market, plus a passenger coupon
(the traveler’s receipt) and the auditor coupon (for the
carrier’s internal controls).
2 These summarization procedures include showing two or
more passengers with the same itinerary as one O&D record and compressing extremely
lengthy itineraries (such as around-the-world tickets) into a standard trip stage
length limit (which may be either seven or twenty-three stages, at the carrier’s
option), as explained in Section V.D.
3 Due dates falling on Saturday, Sunday or national holiday
will become effective the first following work day.
4 Magnetic tapes, floppy discs and similar media will be
returned to the carriers, upon request, following completion of the processing cycle
by the Department.
5 Upon approval of the Director, Office of Airline Information,
carriers may continue current reporting procedures (up to twenty-three stages of a
passenger flight) and may report a uniform 10 percent sample of tickets lifted
(each zero ending lifted coupon) without reducing the sample size from 10 percent
to 1 percent for domestic major markets. Note that the domestic major markets will
be reviewed each year at June 30, based on the prior 12 months O&D data, and the list
amended as necessary. The list could remain static for more than a year, although it
will be reviewed annually. Necessary amendments will be effective on January 1 of the
following year.
6 Codes to be used are those appearing in the Official
Airline Guide at the time the data are being recorded. If a code is not found in
the OAG, contact the Director, Office of Airline Information (address inside front
cover).
7Each reel of tape will be returned to the individual
carrier upon request.
8 Itinerary includes total dollar value of ticket.
(b) The tape record layout is shown on the following page.
|