AWB Studio

Troubleshooting · 3 min read

Air waybill rejected: missing consignee (FNA)

Every FWB names a consignee: the party the goods are delivered to at destination. If the consignee block is missing or incomplete, the airline's system may not be able to process the message and can answer with an FNA. Here is what the block contains and how to fix it.

Why a missing consignee leads to an FNA

The FWB (Air Waybill Data message) carries the consignee in its CNE block. The carrier uses it at destination, for delivery and for customs.

An FNA is the IATA Cargo-IMP Error message. When an airline or cargo community system cannot process a message you sent, it replies with an FNA that quotes your message and gives a short free-text reason, such as "ACK/INVALID AWB NO". An FMA (Message Acknowledgement) only confirms that a message was received; it does not mean the shipment is accepted.

A missing or incomplete consignee can happen when a waybill template is copied and the consignee is not updated, or when the consignee's name contains characters outside the Cargo-IMP character set, such as accented letters.

What the CNE block contains

In FWB/17 the consignee takes several lines:

  • CNE: the line identifier. An account number, where the carrier uses one, follows a slash on this line.
  • NAM/: the name, up to 35 characters. The name can continue on a second line.
  • ADR/: the street address, up to 35 characters.
  • LOC/: the place, up to 17 characters, with an optional state or province of up to 9 after a slash.
  • /: the ISO 2-letter country code, then the optional postcode and contact details.
CNENAM/MILAN FASHION IMPORT SRLADR/VIA DELLA MODA 3LOC/MILANO/IT/20121
Example 1 — A complete consignee block in FWB/17.

"To order" still needs a named party. A block with a name but no address is incomplete:

CNENAM/MILAN FASHION IMPORT SRL
Example 2 — No street, place or country: AWB Studio's checks flag all three.

The block in a complete message

Here is Example 1 inside a complete FWB/17. The message passes AWB Studio's checks; your airline can apply additional rules of its own.

FWB/17020-12345675PVGMXP/T1K200.0RTG/MXPLHSHPNAM/SHANGHAI GARMENT EXPORT COADR/88 HUAIHAI ROADLOC/SHANGHAI/CN/200021CNENAM/MILAN FASHION IMPORT SRLADR/VIA DELLA MODA 3LOC/MILANO/IT/20121CVD/EUR//PP/NVD/NCV/XXXRTD/1/P1/K200.0/CQ/W200.0/R2.50/T500.00/NG/GARMENTS/2/ND//NDAPPD/WT500.00/CT500.00CER/SHANGHAI GARMENTISU/01OCT26/SHANGHAI/SHANGHAI GARMENTREF///AGT/EXAMPLEFORWARDER/PVG
Example 3 — The consignee block (highlighted) in a complete FWB/17.

How to fix it

  1. Find the consignee in the booking or the shipper's instructions. If it is missing, ask the shipper before you send the message again: a placeholder consignee only moves the problem to destination.
  2. Write the block as in Example 1: CNE, then NAM, ADR, LOC and the country line. Use printable 7-bit ASCII only; the slash (/) is reserved as the separator. Transliterate accented letters, so MÜLLER becomes MULLER or MUELLER.
  3. When the free FWB validator opens at public launch, you will be able to check the corrected message there. It will check that a consignee name is present and that the consignee has a street, a place and a country code, and it will flag non-ASCII or over-length fields. It will not check postcodes, or that a country code is a real ISO country. See what it will check.

Consignee vs Also Notify

The consignee is the party the goods are consigned to at destination. The Also Notify block (NFY) names another party the carrier should notify on arrival, for example a customs broker.

If a broker handles clearance, keep the actual consignee in CNE and put the broker in NFY. See what the FWB validator will check.

Updated 4 November 2026. AWB Studio is not affiliated with IATA.