Air Namibia Now Accepts Mastercard

Effective with sales issued on Monday, January 22, 2018 (PED 01/28/18), Air Namibia (186/SW) will begin accepting Mastercard as a form of payment through ARC.

Update to Section 6 of the Industry Agents' Handbook: Elimination of the Chargeback Policy

Travel agents will be pleased to know that, effective February 1, 2018, Section 6 of the Industry Agents' Handbook (IAH) will be updated. This update includes the elimination of the credit card chargeback policy, which states that a signed and imprinted charge form is required as support for the transaction in the event of a chargeback. The new Section 6 also includes procedures for payment card acceptance and chargeback management, and best practices in both areas, and can be found on the ARC website.

On December 6, ARC hosted a webinar for agents, which covered the changes to Section 6, and provided information about how agents can manage the risk of fraud associated with payment card acceptance, and what to do if a chargeback is received. You can view the webinar recording here.

If you have any questions about the change, please contact ARC's Credit Card Services team at creditcardservices@arccorp.com.

2017 Quarterly Transaction Fees – Fourth Quarter

This is a reminder about the agent/CTD transaction fee that is assessed on a quarterly basis. See the chart below outlining this tiered fee structure. Note: Agencies with fewer than 1,000 transactions per quarter will not be assessed transaction fees. A separate debit representing this fee will be drawn against your ARC designated bank account on or after Jan 25, 2018. Only one draft will be issued for consolidated drafting agents.

Number of transactions per quarter

Price per transaction

Tier 1

1,000–2,249,999

.014

Tier 2

2.25 M­­–5.999 M

.013

Tier 3

6 M or more

.011

2018 ARC Annual Agent Location Fee

The 2018 annual agent location fee of $220 will be collected for each of your office locations via electronic draft from your designated bank account on January 25, 2018. It will appear on your bank statement as "ARC Core Participation Fee."

A separate draft of $220 will be issued for each active branch agency and satellite ticket printer (STP) location on record as of January 5, 2018. For consolidated drafting agents, only one draft will be assessed for all of your ARC-approved locations.

ARC Specialist Training and Certification Class

Do you want the opportunity to earn your ARC Specialist Certificate?

The ARC Specialist Training and Certification class will be provided at ARC's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, March 6–8, 2018.

ARC developed the ARC Specialist Training and Certification program with the help of industry representatives from the travel agent and airline communities. This program provides education on ARC's policies, procedures, products, and services.

In this class, you will participate in written and verbal exercises as well as group discussions. Upon completion of the class, you will receive a certificate of completion.

The following topics will be covered during the class:

  • ARC 101
  • ARC's Agent Reporting Agreement (ARA)
  • ARC Accreditation Services
  • My ARC
  • Document Ordering System (DOS)
  • Document Security
  • Taxes, Fees and Charges
  • Credit Card Processing
  • Ticketing
  • Sales Reporting Process
  • Interactive Agent Reporting (IAR)
  • Voids and Modification Rules
  • Adjustments
  • ARC Memo Manager (AMM)
  • Exchanges and Refunds
  • Travel Agency Service Fee (TASF) Program
  • IAR Back Office System (BOS)
  • Internet Sales Summary (ISS)
  • Document Retrieval Service (DRS)
  • ARC's Agent Resources

After the class, you can take the ARC Specialist Certification exam online at your convenience. You will have 30 days to take the exam upon completion of the training class. Those who pass the exam will receive their ARC Specialist Certification.

Register Now

Earn 12% Commission on Tours and Activities with GetYourGuide

In an effort to provide ARC agencies the tools and resources needed to enhance their clients' experiences, we would like to recommend GetYourGuide as a tours and activities supplier.
GetYourGuide offers more than 31,000 high-quality tours and activities in over 7,200 destinations worldwide with over 250 new tours and activities added weekly, including exclusive skip-the-line and signature tours.

How to Get Started

To get started, your agency will need to register with GetYourGuide.

  1. Step-by-step account registration instructions can be found here .

    Be sure to include "ARC" under "Referral Partner" to qualify for the special 12 percent commission incentive.* Please note: You will need your agency's banking information to complete the registration process.
  2. Once registered, you can work with GetYourGuide to set up individual booking links for each of your travel agents. For more information about how to get started with GetYourGuide, click here .

*Commission for tours conducted after December 31, 2018, will start at 8 percent.

If you have questions or need assistance, please visit GetYourGuide's FAQs or contact GetYourGuide at 855-664-8235 or email partner@getyourguide.com.

Register Now

Tip of the Week: Auto-Populating Partial Exchanges in IAR

Although the Interactive Agent Reporting (IAR) system stores the value of all settled tickets, it does not know the value of each coupon. This means that partial exchanges not issued using a GDS automatic repricing tool require agents to enter the unused old base fare, tax breakdown and the old total in IAR.
Here's how to prompt IAR to populate the tax breakout entries on partial exchanges:

  1. On the Exchange Support page, enter the full total amount of the original sale in the Old Total box (third field down in the left column).
  2. Click the Next button (to the right of the ET button). IAR will populate the old fare and tax breakdown for you. You can then modify those values and taxes as needed, input the valid ESAC code and penalty amount (if applicable), and click the Next button.
  3. If the unused partial exchange value is less than the full old original value, you can enter a lesser amount in the Old Total field, and IAR will populate all of the original tax codes from the original sale. You can then enter the appropriate unused fare and tax amounts.

If anything has been typed in any field other than the Old Total box, IAR might be unable to auto-fill the tax breakdown for you. If so, remove and reattach the old document on the Financial Details page, and then enter the old total amount in the Old Total box and click Next. IAR will complete the tax breakdown and auto-fill process as described above.