Every special prorate agreement read, coded and tested on real trips before it bills
Every agreement tested on real trips before it bills; no partner billed on a lapsed one.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Special Prorate Agreement Management is software for interline revenue accounting teams that takes each special prorate agreement (SPA) — the bilateral deal that overrides the industry's general method for splitting a through fare — from the signed PDF to a tested, signed go-live. Seven agents read the agreement clause by clause, code it in the test proration engine, replay last quarter's real trips and ask Commercial about odd results; the interline manager signs go-live, and the agents then watch expiry and partner value.
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A special prorate agreement (SPA) sets how two airlines split the fare when they carry one passenger on one ticket. Without one, the split follows the industry's general method — IATA's Multilateral Prorate Agreement (MPA), with its prorate factors, the minimum prorate rule and a 9% interline service charge. Network carriers override it partner by partner with special prorate agreements: fixed amounts by class and sector, percentages of the through fare, a lower service charge, rules for children, reroutes and third airlines. Each SPA arrives as a PDF from Alliances, and an SPA analyst has to read it, code every clause into the proration engine, test it and switch it on before the first ticket it governs is billed — often with less than the four weeks IATA recommends, and with a handful of hand-built test tickets or none.
A miscoded clause underbills every partner coupon it touches, and nobody sees it until a rejection memo or a month-end variance months later. A clause that reads as written can still give value away: a fixed amount below what the general method pays, a cabin the agreement forgets, a validity coded on travel date when the paper says issue date. And an agreement that expires unnoticed silently falls back to the general method. The question that matters — was this clause intended? — sits in an email to Commercial that may take weeks.
Estimated split for one new bilateral agreement of about 14 clauses, worked by hand and with the solution. Waiting time for Commercial's answers is not counted.
Seven agents read, code and replay every agreement on real trips and ask Commercial about odd results; the interline manager signs go-live.
Corvane Airways has signed a new special prorate agreement with Halden Air, SPA HD-CV-2026: 18 pages and two annexes, for tickets issued from Nov 15, 2026 to Nov 14, 2028. It reached Revenue Accounting on Mon Oct 12, 34 days ahead. Here is how it goes live, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Leah's Today screen shows 13 agreements in force, about $62.5M a year to Corvane, 2 in test, 2 questions with Commercial and 1 ending within 60 days. At the top of what needs her: Halden Air's new agreement tested on 2,000 real trips, +$66,905.66 for the quarter, with clause 6 pulled to the top at −$11,780.00 on 310 coupons. She can ask the agents in plain words — what they did overnight, whether Halden is ready to go live, which agreements expire soon.
Replay agent: “Clause 6 pays less than today on 310 coupons, so I pulled it to the top and asked Commercial.”
The agreement reader turns the PDF into 14 clauses, each cited to its page, and the rule coder writes each one as a prorate rule in the test engine, filed under the IATA SPA coding checklist. Three findings come up instead of being guessed: clause 1 says issue date where the Annex A header says travel date (clause 14 makes the body govern), premium economy is not mentioned, and Annex A note 3 puts a 25% child discount on top of the agreed amounts. Celia Navarro answers the last two on Oct 14.
The agreement reader never resolves an ambiguity silently; it raises it as a finding.
The replay agent runs 2,000 itineraries with both airlines from Jul 1 to Sep 30, 2026 — 4,126 coupons — through today's general method and the new agreement: Corvane's share goes from $558,613.43 to $625,519.09, +$66,905.66 for the quarter (12.0%), and thirteen clauses behave as written. Clause 6 fixes Corvane's Chicago–New York sector at $212 in economy and $598 in business when the trip goes on to Athens, “in lieu of mileage proration”, where the general method gives $250 on average in economy: −$11,780.00 a quarter on 310 coupons, about −$47,120 a year. The checker recomputes all 310 from the clause text by a different method, gets the same values and confirms every coupon is above the minimum prorate. So the question is not whether it is coded right, but whether it was meant.
Commercial liaison to Celia Navarro, Alliances: “Was this intended?”
Leah opens Halden ticket 419-2101184426, ORD–JFK–ATH in economy, issued Jul 14, fare after taxes and fees $1,145.95. Prorate factors of 1,012 for ORD–JFK and 3,601 for JFK–ATH give Corvane's sector $251.40 today; clause 6 makes it $212.00. With the service charge Halden keeps falling from 9% to 7%, Corvane's share goes from $228.77 to $197.16: −$31.61 on this coupon.
“A replayed trip is never billed. It shows what the agreement would have done to a ticket Corvane already settled.”
The question to Commercial carries the clause and its page, what the agents checked — 254 of the 310 coupons lower than today, $38.00 a coupon on average, the checker in agreement, above the minimum prorate — and three example trips. It is due Mon Oct 19, three business days after it was asked. Leah can remind Celia or escalate to Owen Prescott, but she cannot answer it.
“Only Commercial says whether a clause was intended.”
Celia chooses from three answers: intended, keep $212 and $598; not intended, ask Halden to correct it; or intended at a different amount, which re-runs the replay. She picks the first, with the reason “Agreed in negotiation; deliberate trade-off” — in the demo, a trade for clause 7, which gives Corvane 18% of the through fare on its feeder flights into JFK. She signs, and the rule coder marks clause 6 confirmed with her answer as its reason.
The go-live screen lists what must be true before anyone signs: received at least 4 weeks ahead, every clause read and coded with its page, findings settled, replayed on last quarter's trips, the checker in agreement, every question answered, and the value within the approver's limit — +$267,623 a year against the general method, inside Owen's $300,000. Owen picks the reason “Test results reviewed; odd values confirmed by Commercial” and confirms his decision.
“SPA Analysts do not approve go-lives: Owen Prescott does.”
The rules move from test to production for tickets issued from Nov 15, 2026, and the billing team and the outsourced billing desk are told what changes. The 1-month review of billings against the replay is set for Dec 15, 2026, the 6-month review with Halden for May 15, 2027 and the 12-month review for Nov 15, 2027. The expiry warning to Commercial is set for Sep 15, 2028, 60 days before the agreement ends.
“Signed into the audit trail with the test results attached.”
Selkirk Airways' agreement ends Dec 1, 2026, 47 days away. The 60-day alert went to Commercial on Oct 2 with no answer in 13 days, so the watch has escalated it to Owen: about $3.4M a year runs under it, and on the general method Corvane would get about $61,300 a year less. Kestrel Air's agreement lapsed Sep 30; renewal v3 was signed Oct 9 from Oct 1, so 412 coupons issued Oct 1–14 went out on the general method. Re-prorated at v3 they give Corvane +$18,640.20, once Ruth Abernathy approves the go-live.
The expiry and renewal watch never extends or ends an agreement on its own.
Every month the monitor compares each live agreement's billings with its replay. Northmere Airways billed 11.0% below in September, −$89,950.00 against $817,720 expected. The monitor found one coding cause: Corvane began Minneapolis–Reykjavik on Aug 3, the route is not in the agreement's route list, and 218 coupons settled under the general method, −$10,120.40 against the agreement's rates. The rest is lower traffic, not coding, and the question of adding the route at renewal is with Celia.
The same agreement, seen by the five people who carry it — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents read, code and replay every agreement on real trips and ask Commercial about odd results; the interline manager signs go-live.
Reads each agreement, annex and side letter, writes every clause in plain words with its page, and raises gaps and conflicts as findings — a class the agreement forgets, an annex that contradicts the body.
Codes each clause as a prorate rule in the test proration engine — validity, ticket stock, journeys, reroutes, fixed amounts, percentages of the fare, surcharges, children, third airline, service charge — filed under the IATA SPA coding checklist.
Runs last quarter's real trips with both airlines through today's rules and the new ones, and compares them trip by trip: old value, new value and the difference, by clause.
Recomputes odd and sampled results from the clause text by a different method, tests the minimum prorate, and pulls a clause to the top when Corvane loses more than $25 or 10% a coupon.
Asks Commercial whether an odd result was intended, with the clause, the money and example trips; tracks the three-business-day deadline and records the answer as the reason on the rule.
Watches every agreement from 90 days before it ends, warns Commercial at 60 days, escalates when nobody answers, and when a renewal lands late proposes re-prorating the coupons issued in the gap.
Compares each live agreement's billings with what its replay predicted, runs the 1, 6 and 12-month reviews and drafts the monthly feedback to Commercial.
Signs go-live; Commercial confirms intent. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Every screen has the agents beside it. Ask in plain words; they answer from the agreement, the coded rules and the replayed trips, and cite their source.
Why is clause 6 worth less than today?
Today Chicago–New York is valued by the general method: the fare is shared by prorate factors, ORD–JFK 1,012 against JFK–ATH 3,601. On ticket 419-2101184426 that gives Corvane $251.40. Clause 6 fixes it at $212.00, so this trip pays $39.40 less; across 310 coupons it is −$11,780.00 a quarter.
Is anything below the minimum prorate?
No. Clause 7 is “subject to the minimum prorate”, and none of its coupons falls below it; clause 6's $212 is above the $141.00 minimum on ORD–JFK.
Which agreements expire soon?
Selkirk Airways ends Dec 1 (47 days): the 60-day alert went out on Oct 2 and a reminder on Oct 9, no answer, so it is with Owen now. Tarran Air ends Dec 31 (77 days): its 60-day alert goes to Celia on Nov 1. Kestrel lapsed on Sep 30 and its renewal is signed from Oct 1.
Did any agreement in force differ from what the engine does?
Two did, when all 15 were re-read at setup. Velora Airways was coded with a 9% service charge where its amendment says 7%: about $240,300 a year; Owen fixed it on Sep 29. Orrin Airways is coded on travel date where the paper says issue date: still open.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
How the agents flag results, how much they replay and who signs are settings that the proration systems lead or the interline manager change; every change is on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Pull a clause to the top when Corvane loses more than | $25 a coupon | Any amount in US dollars |
| …or more than | 10% a coupon | Any percentage |
| Replay at least this many past trips | 2,000 | Any number of trips from ticket history |
| Agreement received at least | 4 weeks before it takes effect | Any number of weeks (IATA recommends 4) |
| Expiry warning to Commercial | 60 days before the end | Any number of days (IATA recommends 60) |
| Watch from | 90 days before the end | Any number of days |
| Commercial answers within | 3 business days | Any number of business days; then reminded, and escalated to the interline manager |
| Go-live above this a year needs the VP | $300,000 | Any amount in US dollars |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of where a new agreement's working days go · “typical” = published guidance (IATA, Passenger Rejection Reduction Best Practices v1.2, 2021 — receive a new SPA at least 4 weeks before it takes effect, simulate it in the test system, alert Commercial 60 days before expiry, review at 1, 6 and 12 months). Corvane Airways, its partner airlines and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Special Prorate Agreement Management is software for interline revenue accounting teams that takes each special prorate agreement (SPA) — the bilateral deal that overrides the industry's general method for splitting a through fare — from the signed PDF to a tested, signed go-live. Seven agents read the agreement clause by clause, code it in the test proration engine, replay last quarter's real trips and ask Commercial about odd results; the interline manager signs go-live, and the agents then watch expiry and partner value.
The Multilateral Prorate Agreement (MPA) is the industry's general method of interline proration: MPA proration splits an interline fare by published prorate factors, with a minimum prorate rule and a 9% interline service charge. A special prorate agreement is a bilateral deal between two airlines that replaces it with their own terms — fixed amounts by class and sector, percentages of the fare, a lower service charge. The test bench shows each trip valued both ways.
SPA simulation runs on real trips. The replay agent runs last quarter's real trips with both airlines — at least 2,000 by default — through today's rules and the new agreement in the test proration engine. Every trip shows its old value, new value and difference by clause. A checker recomputes odd results by a different method, and a clause is pulled to the top when it moves more than $25 or 10% a coupon.
No. The agents write to the test engine only. Rules move to production after the interline manager — or the VP Revenue Accounting above $300,000 a year — signs the go-live with a reason, dated for the first ticket the agreement governs.
A lapsed agreement silently falls back to the general method. The expiry and renewal watch follows every agreement from 90 days out, warns Commercial 60 days ahead as IATA recommends, and escalates to the interline manager when nobody answers. When a renewal is signed late, it proposes re-prorating the coupons issued in the gap, which runs once the go-live is approved.
Yes. At setup the agents re-read every airline SPA in force and compare the paper with what the engine does. In the demo they found Velora Airways coded with a 9% service charge where its amendment says 7%, about $240,300 a year, and Orrin Airways coded on travel date where the paper says issue date.
Yes. The agents read, code in test, replay, check, ask and warn; they never bill, decide intent, or extend or end an agreement. Commercial alone answers whether a clause was intended, the interline manager signs go-live within the limit, and every decision carries a reason and a signature on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your agreements, coding procedures, approval limits and a sample of past interline trips — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. First-time setup connects the proration engine's test and production environments, the agreement repository, ticket history, prorate factors and interline billing, then imports the agreements in force.
Yesterday's flights earned by morning, and the revenue lost in suspense back on the books.
1-min demoInterline Billing and SettlementEvery rejection answered inside its time limit, with every coupon tied to its agreement.
1-min demoAirline Sales AuditEvery ticket audited, not a sample, and every memo sent with its proof.
1-min demoWe'll run Special Prorate Agreement Management on one of your own agreements and a quarter of your past interline trips.