What Is BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan)?

Definition: BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan) is IATA's system that settles money between accredited agencies and airlines in a given market, consolidating sales reports and payments.

How BSP works

Without BSP, an agency selling tickets on many airlines would report to and pay each airline separately. BSP replaces that with one process per market:

The accredited agency issues tickets during a reporting period.
BSP collects the sales from all airlines into one report for the agency.
The agency pays one amount, the remittance, for that period.
BSP distributes the money to each airline.

Reporting periods, payment dates and rules are set per market.

Who uses BSP

Only agencies with IATA accreditation settle through BSP. Agencies without accreditation do not deal with BSP at all; they pay their consolidator or B2B platform, which settles with the airlines itself.

Why it matters for travel agencies

BSP brings discipline and risk. An accredited agency must pay its remittance on time even if its own customers have not paid it yet, and usually has to provide a financial guarantee. Late payment can lead to penalties or losing ticketing rights. For a new agency, this cash-flow pressure is one of the main reasons to start through a ticketing partner.

Example

Hypothetical: an accredited agency sells tickets on four airlines in one period. Instead of four payments, it receives one BSP report and makes one remittance by the due date.

How QuickOTA fits

QuickOTA works with agencies that do not have IATA accreditation; QuickOTA issues the ticket for your booking. You pay from a prepaid wallet instead of settling with BSP.