Regional Sky (4P/351) Voluntarily Deletes from ARC
This serves to inform you that Regional Sky (4P/351) will be deleted from ARC effective Monday, January 1, 2024 (PED 01/07/24). ARC is no longer processing transactions for this airline. Please contact them directly with any questions.
2023 Holiday Ticket Modification/Voiding Schedule
ARC’s offices were closed on Monday, January 1, 2024, in observance of New Year’s Day.
The GDS void/IAR reconciliation dates for tickets issued on Friday, December 29, 2023, to Sunday, December 31, 2023, will be extended until Tuesday, January 02, 2024.
Sales Report Submission
Weekly sales reports for the PED of 12/31/23 must be authorized by 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
The ARC 2024 Holiday Schedule is now available. You can access it from My ARC via the link “2023 & 2024 Holiday Schedule” under “Resources.”
The 2024 ARC Holiday Schedule presents the holidays observed by ARC and is effective January 1, 2024. The schedule reflects the impacts to:
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GDS-issued transactions.
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GDS/IAR Void and IAR modification extension dates
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ARC Report PED and ARC Report due dates
PLEASE NOTE:
When the day to void falls on an ARC-recognized holiday, an extension to the next business day is automatically granted.
When an ARC-recognized holiday falls on Monday or Tuesday, the weekly sales report is due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the Wednesday following the sale period ending date (PED). Otherwise, the ARC weekly sales report is due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the Tuesday following the PED.
When a transaction that was manually entered into IAR must be voided, the void may only take place on the same day of IAR entry.
ARC reserves the right to make changes to the holiday schedule or sales report submission deadline. Any such changes will be communicated in advance to the travel agency community.
ARC is updating the agency accreditation application effective January 8, 2024, to help empower agents to protect themselves against fraud.
The updates apply to all new agencies and agency type 5 ownership changes, requiring these security measures before becoming accredited. View a summary of the updates below.
1) Effective and unique electronic challenge and authentication for all log-in credentials or security credentials, including but not limited to any credentials used to access System Providers. This includes, for example, usernames, PIN/PCC and password, of any user accessing agent hardware, systems, or any other systems or hardware which can be used to issue ARC Traffic Documents and Transactional Data;
2) If permitted by a System Provider, passwords that conform with the following criteria: a. 14 characters or more in length b. Combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols; and c. A password that is different from all previous passwords;
3) The use of multifactor authentication when made available by a System Provider;
4) Installation and recording of logs of all security patches and system updates made available by Agent’s computer operating system provider and browser;
5) Installation and maintenance of industry standard antivirus software, firewall software, and anti-malware software on all Agent’s computers and the regular use thereof and maintenance of logs for such use;
6) Use and maintenance of effective and current anti-spam and anti-phishing email filtering system and effective use of anti-phishing toolbars;
7) Appropriate maintenance of security, encryption, and password protection on Agent’s computer and any wireless internet systems used by Agent’s computers;
8) The attendance of Agent and all personnel issuing ARC Traffic Documents at ARC approved fraud and security webinars and trainings in the previous twelve (12) months;
9) Installation of computer operating system updated with all latest patches and with automatic updates enabled; and
10) Internet browser installed with latest patches and with automatic updates enabled.
Linking another new document to an existing exchange transaction is called a ‘companion exchange.’ You can manually link additional new documents to an exchange in IAR by following these steps:
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Issue the new exchange transaction first.
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Issue the companion document on the same day as the NEW exchange (recommended).
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On the next business day, when the NEW exchange and NEW companion document load in IAR, on your sales report screen:
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Click the Document# of the NEW exchange.
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The Financial Details screen displays.
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Move to the ‘Exchanges: New Document’ section of the Financial Details screen.
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Enter the companion document number in the ‘Add 10-character New Document#’ box.
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Click the ADD button to add the new document to the exchange transaction.
Once linked, the exchange and the companion document become a single companion exchange transaction. It is identified on the IAR sales report in the transaction type (TT) column with the indicator of “CX.”
Companion exchanges include residual value MCOs/EMDs that are issued to transfer non-refundable residual value to the MCO to be used in a future exchange. Please see the previous TAC message PED 11/12/2023 (arccorp.com) for instructions on how to issue a residual value MCO or EMD so that it automatically links to an exchange to create a companion exchange. If the residual value document does not properly link to its exchange when issued in the GDS, you may also follow these steps to manually create the companion exchange link.
IAR supports using up to 20 new documents in a single companion exchange transaction. Similarly, IAR supports using up to 20 old documents in a single or companion exchange transaction. Not including residual value documents that automatically link to their exchange, you must manually link other new documents into an exchange to create a companion exchange.