Flair Air Voluntarily Deletes from ARC

Flair Air (F8/418) will voluntarily delete from ARC effective Monday, December 17, 2018 (PED 12/23/18). Please submit any outstanding F8/418 transactions in your IAR report prior to that date. For more information, please contact Flair Air at 204-285-0844 or www.flairair.ca.

Notice of Changes to the Agent Reporting Agreement (ARA)

Following ARC’s consultation with travel agency representatives, ARC’s board of directors has approved a number of updates to the Agent Reporting Agreement (ARA), including the following. These updates, which will take effect February 1, 2019, reflect changes in Agency roles and contacts, as well as ARC’s product offerings, and they better align with ARC’s current operations.

Agency Roles and Contacts
To better address the need for effective and timely communications between your agency, ARC, and the Carriers, ARC is updating the types of agency contacts required, including email addresses.

Manager Role and Contact Requirements:
The term “Manager” will replace “Management Qualifier.” However, the requirements for the role have not changed, and the Manager will still be the agency employee responsible for the operation of the agency location(s). Each agent will be required to designate at least one Manager and provide and maintain up-to-date contact information for the individual(s). The Manager will be responsible for receiving correspondence from ARC and the Carriers relating to the Agent’s contractual relationship with them. This includes, for example, notices concerning changes to the ARA, financial instruments and other items related to agency status (ARA Sections 8.3.6.1, 15.6, 15.6.1, 15.6.2, 15.8.1, 15.9), Industry Agents’ Handbook Section A.4). Additionally, the operational email requirement is removed and replaced with the Manager contact (ARA Sections 8.3.6.4, 15.6, and 39.23).

Other Contacts – Roles and Requirements:
Each Agent will also be required to provide and maintain up-to-date contact information for the following roles (ARA Sections 8.3.8.1 – 8.3.8.4, and 15.6, 15.6.1, 15.6.2, 15.8.1, 15.9):

• Owner or Officer Contact
• Operational Contact
• Debit Memo Contact
• Chargeback Contact

With these simplified agency contact categories, ARC and participating carriers will be able to more effectively reach your agency with important updates.

ARC Specialist Requirement
Currently, each agent accredited after 1999 is required to have a designated ARC Specialist who has passed the ARC Specialist examination. However, as of February 1, 2019, current agents will no longer be required to designate and maintain an individual ARC Specialist, and ARA section 8.3.6.2 will be updated to reflect this change.

Although the examination is no longer required for current agencies, you are strongly encouraged to continue your participation in ARC’s continuing educational training courses, certification programs, webinars and other learning programs. As the travel industry evolves, ARC offers a variety of valuable, interactive training options to keep agencies informed and engaged. Information about ARC’s agency training is available here.

Elimination of Satellite Ticket Printer (STP) as a Location Classification
In 2010, because of the decrease in use of paper tickets and diminished need for remote delivery, ARC stopped accrediting new Satellite Ticket Printer (STP) locations. In the interest of further streamlining ARC’s classification system, all current STP locations will be identified as Branches in ARC’s systems. The locations may continue to operate in their usual manner under the Branch designation. As a result, references to “Satellite Ticket Printer” will be removed from the ARA and Industry Agents’ Handbook (IAH).

Elimination of Reference to Obsolete Traffic Documents
ARC is updating Section B of the IAH to eliminate references to the following obsolete traffic documents:

• Pre-Paid Ticket Advice (PTA)
• 4-Flight Manual Tickets

To review the ARA changes in more detail, click here.

These changes will take effect on February 1, 2019. Please note that, in accordance with Section 5 of the ARA, your continued participation with ARC after February 1, 2019, serves as your acceptance of the amendments.

If you have any questions, please contact ARC’s Customer Care Center at 855-816-8003 or ccchelp@arccorp.com.

2019 ARC Agent Annual Fees and Tiered Quarterly Transaction Fees

In preparation for 2019, please note that the ARC Agent Annual Fee of $225 per location will be drafted from your account on January 24, 2019, along with the 2018 fourth quarter transaction fee billing.

Additionally, the 2019 Tiered Quarterly Transaction Fees are listed below, with a quarterly transaction floor of 1000 and no ceiling. The first quarter transaction fee billing will be drafted on April 25, 2019.

Understand ARC’s Vision for Distribution: Evolved

The future of distribution is personal, adaptable and innovative. ARC’s vision for distribution supports the full spectrum of airline distribution models by providing flexible transaction processing workflows, billing and settlement, and outputs that enable airlines and agencies to efficiently manage their partnerships. Learn how ARC’s distribution solutions will enable the future.

Read More

Tip of the Week: Opening IAR in Multiple Tabs or Windows

To ensure accurate synchronization in IAR, it is strongly recommended that you use the tool in one web browser window at a time. Web browsers generally allow users to open multiple browser windows or tabs, and while IAR does not prevent you from opening multiple tabs or windows simultaneously, it does not support this type of functionality.

Opening multiple tabs or windows with the same IAR user session could potentially cause data synchronization errors and other system issues. This could lead to incorrect information being transmitted to the airline or no information being transmitted at all. IAR accepts data from the window you are working in, so if you are in a transaction and you press the ET button, the transaction will be closed. If that transaction still appears to be open in a second window and you try to modify it, IAR will display an error message. To prevent any of these scenarios from taking place, we strongly recommend you use IAR in just one tab or window.

For more IAR resources, please visit ARC’s Self-Paced Training Knowledge Center.