Debit Memo Advisory Group

The DMAG's Mission

The DMAG's mission is to improve the efficiency of the debit memo process, and ultimately reduce the volume of invalid memos, by working together for common solutions that benefit the industry as a whole.

How has the DMAG impacted the air travel industry?

The DMAG's work is ongoing, with meetings held every two months by phone, and twice annually in person. There have been a number of significant accomplishments since the DMAG was established in 2013. Here are a few highlights:

• The creation of an industrywide set of best practices for managing debit memos. The Best Practices for Effective Debit Memo Resolution and Prevention outlines responsibilities for travel agencies, airlines, GDSs and ARC, and its creation was the direct result of months of DMAG collaboration.
• The creation of standard debit memo reason codes. After manually reviewing over 44,000 memos to identify patterns and root causes in debit memos, the DMAG established standard debit memo reason codes that are now used throughout the industry. These standardized codes have now been implemented in both Memo Manager and Memo Analyzer.
• The Irregular Operations and Schedule Changes Focus Group developed a set of recommendations to help create more consistency and efficiency surrounding irregular operations. Recommendations for Managing Airline Schedule Changes outline best practices that are mutually beneficial for companies across the travel industry, creating more consistent process and policy standards for both airlines and travel agencies.