Courtesy of Wikipedia:
A Flight Interruption Manifest (FIM) is a document issued by
an airline as a substitute ticket for passengers experiencing irregularities
during travel when the original ticket is not available. A FIM is generally
issued at a gate, ticket counter, or transit desk by an airline agent and will
note their original routing and ticket numbers, as well as those of the new
routing, thereby making the FIM the new ticket.
A FIM is only valid for a specific flight on a new airline
that is not the airline the ticket was originally issued with. For example, a
Delta gate agent could produce a FIM for a flight on United and send the data to
United. The FIM would then be accepted as a regular ticket on the specified
United flight.
Flight interruption manifests are perceived by both flying
passengers and airlines as becoming increasingly impractical, especially with
the widespread use of electronic ticketing, or e-Tickets. Producing a FIM
requires that the e-ticket be converted to a regular paper ticket and that the
data manually be sent to the receiving airline. Several carriers have announced
that they will be working together to smooth and digitize these
transactions.
And, again-- this time in English! A FIM is the ticket you get when your ticketing airline royally F's up, leaving you stranded. Some people call FIMing "Rule 240," however that term is pretty old school and isn't going to be understood by the fresh-out-of-college 22-year-old kid working the ticket counter.
Next time you find yourself stuck at O'hare on a four hour mechanical delay, tell 'em you that want to be FIM'd onto the next available flight (on ANY airline!) and away you'll go.
(If you want to get technical, here's what a FIM is: your ticketing airline reissues your original ticket for a ticket on a new airline because of a delay or cancellation on their part. They process the reissue [and pay the other airline to transport you] and then you go to the new airline and check in just like any other paying passenger. The remainder of your ticket remains the same-- the only part of your ticket that is modified are the segments in question.)
1 comment:
Can you clarify something for me please.
I've been told that FIM can be issued against a paper ticket, or if an e-ticket booking is shown as flown.
If a fresh e-ticket booking is made for the new onward flight, and is open for use, would this negate the use a FIM?
I'm currently looking at a case where an e-ticket booking was made for a new flight. The e-ticket number was generated but a FIM was also issued as well.
By accident the e-ticket number for the new booking was written on the FIM rather than the original e-ticket number from the other airline.
It is complicated by the fact that both airlines have different reservations systems.
The airline that was used for the replacement flight says that the passengers travelled on the e-ticket and never presented the FIM for use.
It's been suggested to me that because of this the FIM is technically void and the original airline should be recharged on the strength of the new (electronic) booking.
There is proof that the passengers were on thru tickets and therefore the original carrier is liable for the change of flight.
I hope you can clear this up for me.
Best regards
PaulB
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