Air carriers may be required to double check QR codes with passengers: the first time when buying tickets, the second time when checking in for a flight at a counter or boarding an aircraft, if the online registration was passed, we learned Izvestia. This option, according to two informed sources, is now being discussed with the aviation industry. It is assumed that without a code, tickets cannot be bought from Russian airlines and their sales agents. According to the interlocutors of Izvestia, carriers will have to integrate with the “Gosuslugi” portal to sell tickets to vaccinated passengers… In the case of foreign companies, the opportunity to purchase air tickets without a QR code will remain, but the transportation will be canceled if the airline is not provided with the code one day before departure.
The ministry is currently developing software for checking codes, its launch in test mode is expected in December… In the meantime, the Ministry of Transport is developing normative regulation for the introduction of special admission of citizens to transport services. On November 11, the agency asked the aviation industry participants to present their position within one day. This follows from a letter from the Ministry of the Federal Air Transport Agency, the Association of Air Transport Operators and Aeroflot (Izvestia has it).
Check twice
The Ministry of Transport asked the participants of the aviation industry to present their position on the legal regulation of the introduction of special admission of citizens to transport services in one day… This follows from a letter dated November 11 from the director of the department for state policy in the field of civil aviation of the department, Svetlana Petrova, to Aeroflot, the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Association of Air Transport Operators (AEVT).
“As part of the elaboration of the issue of introducing the peculiarities of admission of citizens to transport services, I ask you to submit proposals on normative regulation by November 12, 2021 …”, the document says.
A Izvestia source close to the Ministry of Transport said that such an order did exist, and that the proposals were still being prepared. The department, Federal Air Transport Agency and Aeroflot did not respond to Izvestia’s request.
The regulatory framework developed by the Ministry of Transport primarily includes the procedure for “posting by a passenger on the official website of the carrier of information about medical documentation, checking it by the carrier and sending a notification to the passenger about the results of the check or termination of the contract (air transportation. – Izvestia) unilaterally and its form, “the letter says.
This is the first of two checks that airlines have been asked to carry out. Another – “when checking in for a flight and boarding a passenger on board an aircraft, including checking the validity of medical records ”, follows from the letter from the Ministry of Transport. According to the Izvestia source, When boarding the plane, the QR code will be checked for passengers who checked in for the flight online…
How it will work
According to two sources of Izvestia in the industry, the issue of making it impossible to buy an air ticket without a QR code has been fundamentally resolved.… It is assumed that Russian airlines and ticket agents will be obliged to integrate a system for checking QR codes when selling a carriage on their website. De facto, it should be associated with government services – there is no other way to check the passenger’s QR code when selling a ticket, two interlocutors told Izvestia.
According to one of them, Within a month, the Ministry of Digital Industry will finalize the software for integrating airlines with the State Services portal and checking codes when selling air tickets, its launch in test mode is expected in December. The introduction of QR codes in air transport, scheduled for mid-January, possibly no earlier than February 15, is sure another Izvestia source.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Digital Science.
In the case of foreign companies, to which such requirements are not applicable, the opportunity to purchase tickets without a QR code will remain. But the passenger will receive a notification about the need to provide her with a QR code… There will be two deadlines for this: the first – 14 days before departure for those who bought a ticket earlier than two weeks before it, in other cases – 24 hours before. When, if the passenger does not provide the required document a day before departure, the airline will have to unilaterally cancel the contract air transportation with a full refund of the paid funds.
The fact that if the passenger does not have the necessary medical documentation, the airlines will have to unilaterally terminate the air carriage agreement with such a client, follows from the letter from the Ministry of Transport. At the same time, carriers will have to return the carriage charge to such a passenger in full, the document says.
The Ministry of Transport is developing a procedure for the sale of air tickets and boarding an aircraft for categories of persons who are not subject to the requirements for the availability of medical documentation… These, according to the letter of the department, may include citizens of the Russian Federation making international air or international railway transportation, vaccinated with a vaccine not registered in the territory of the Russian Federation, Russians who return to the country from the territory of another state and persons who are not citizens of Russia.
Drop in traffic
Issuing air tickets using a QR code will lead to difficulties with cheap flights, tickets for which are sold in advance, said the vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) Dmitry Gorin.
“In this case, we believe that it is more expedient to enter QR codes when registering for a flight and boarding a train, but retain the right to buy a ticket without a QR code,” Dmitry Gorin told RIA Novosti on November 11.
Pobeda Airlines opposed checking QR codes when purchasing air tickets, stating that it would violate the rights of passengers: those who decide to get vaccinated before the flight will have to buy tickets on the eve of departure and, accordingly, pay more… That you can not use a QR code when buying a ticket, said the CEO of Aeroflot Mikhail Poluboyarinov speaking at the Federation Council on November 9. According to preliminary estimates of S7 Airlines, passenger traffic on domestic flights may be reduced by 50% after the introduction of such rules…
At the same time, Pobeda “fully supports the ban on registration and flight without a QR code.” And Mikhail Poluboyarinov called it normal to check the codes when boarding the plane.
“With the appropriate software, we will be able to check the presence of a QR code, the vaccination period,” he added.
The Federation Council believes that the introduction of QR codes for air travel and travel by rail will significantly increase the number of vaccinated citizens… Nevertheless, we need to develop a comfortable and convenient system for checking these documents, they added.
– The use of QR codes needs to be made seamlessly for everyone who has them. It is necessary to bring this system to automatism by analogy with bank cards, when everything is done in one touch, ”Ivan Abramov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council committee on economic policy, emphasized in an interview with Izvestia.
Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, explaining the need for their introduction, also noted that checking QR codes should not create difficulties for passengers… For the convenience of checking documents, the interaction of booking systems and public services will be organized, he said at a press conference on November 12.
And the head of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation and state construction Andrei Klishas said that the proposed restrictions on rights in connection with QR codes do not contradict the Constitution.
#Show #system #checking #codes #flights #work