Eastern Airlines Now Accepts Diners and Discover

Effective with sales issued on Monday, March 01, 2021 (PED March 07, 2021), Eastern Airlines (054/2D) will begin accepting Diners and Discover as forms of payment through ARC.

Reminder: Obtaining Valid Card Authorizations via the GDS

As a reminder, it is important that agents follow the procedures outlined in section 6 of the IAH related to payment card authorizations.

Best Practice Card Acceptance (Section 6 of the IAH)

Identify the ticketing airline and, at the time of ticketing, obtain an authorization (i.e., approval code) via the GDS for the exact amount of the transaction. Transactions that are not properly authorized may not be settled successfully and, as a result, the airline may not be paid. In addition, the airline could be subject to increased card acceptance costs or non-compliance fees, in which case the airline may contact the agent for reimbursement.

Failure to obtain properly authorized transactions through the GDS leads to higher acceptance fees for airlines and on ARC Pay transactions. This can also lead to chargebacks due to missing or invalid authorizations. Transactions that have been chargedback often result in debit memos or in the case of ARC Pay transactions, agency fees and other miscellaneous travel-related transactions processed via ARC, drafted from your bank account and a loss of revenue.

Tip of the Week: Requesting Access to Tools in My ARC

My ARC users can access additional tools by selecting Tools on the My ARC dashboard. Users can then select the Request Access link, which allows you to request access to tools currently available to your organization.

Tools requested must be approved by your organization’s My ARC Tool Administrator. Your Primary or Tool Administrator will receive a “Pending Request” email notification once you have submitted your tool request and will either approve or deny your request. Administrators can also add a note to the user that requested access along with the response. Adding a message is optional and allows the administrator to ask for additional information or explain the approval or denial decision.