ARC systems will be unavailable on Sunday, September 24, from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. During this scheduled time, you will be unable to access My ARC or any of its tools, including IAR and Memo Manager. This system outage is necessary to install a new firewall.
ARC realizes that any system outage is an inconvenience to you, and we apologize for any impact this may have on your work with ARC tools and products. The intent of this advance notice is to provide you with adequate time to make any necessary schedule adjustments. To help minimize the impact on you, Sunday was selected for this update because this is the day of the week with the lowest level of user activity.
Your understanding and patience are appreciated as we improve and upgrade ARC systems. Please share this information with others in your organization that may be impacted by these scheduled outages. Subscribe for notifications whenever any ARC system encounters an unexpected incident or is scheduled for maintenance at the ARC Status Dashboard.
As payment brands look for ways to improve acceptance processes, increase approval rates, and reduce fraud, it is critical that agencies obtain a valid authorization via the GDS for every transaction (sale or exchange with an additional collection) or risk receiving a chargeback or non-compliance fee debit memo.
Payment Issuers (aka credit card companies) have increased the monitoring of authorization-related data and can reject a transaction when it appears that a valid authorization has not been obtained. It is important to note that a transaction that includes a manually keyed approval code may not include the data required and is, therefore, at risk of rejection. In addition to the potential for chargebacks and subsequent debit memos, substantial fines may be imposed when proper acceptance procedures are not followed.
Payment Card Acceptance Procedures:
Section 6 of the Industry Agents’ Handbook (IAH) states the following in the Payment Card Acceptance Procedures for obtaining an authorization.
“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.”
If you have questions, please contact Manager Payment Processing and Acceptance, Kevin Haag.
Modified Reporting Schedule - Expedited Exchanges
Effective November 2, 2023, our modernization initiatives will accelerate the exchange process reporting schedule.
Error-free exchanges will be locked down one business day after transaction issuance and transmitted to credit card processors and airlines on the same processing schedule as sales and refunds.
This enhancement provides:
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Faster credit billing/refund for exchanges where the cardholder has an additional collection or residual refund value.
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Reduced customer call volume and credit card inquiries/chargebacks for late refunds.
The specifics of this project include:
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Error-free exchanges loaded in ARC’s Interactive Agent Reporting (IAR) will be locked down the next business day at 11:59:59 p.m. ET (Eastern Time), the same as sales and refunds.
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Error-free Miscellaneous Charge Orders (MCOs) and Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs) loaded in IAR will be locked down the next business day at 11:59:59 p.m. ET. This applies to MCOs and EMDs that are sales or part of an exchange.
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Exchanges loaded in IAR in error that are corrected after the next business day at 11:59:59 p.m. ET will be locked down immediately upon error correction, the same as sales and refunds.
If you have questions about this change, please visit our FAQ, or contact our Customer Care at 855-816-8003 or ccchelp@arccorp.com.
ARC is making updates to the ARA and CTDRA that will take effect on September 18, 2023. View a summary of the updates along with a full review of the changes coming to the ARA and CTDRA using the links below.
Changes to ARA:
Summary (PDF)
Full review (PDF)
Changes to CTDRA:
Summary (PDF)
Full review (PDF)
Please note, in accordance with Section 5 of the ARA, your continued participation with ARC after September 18, 2023, serves as your acceptance of the amendments.
You can easily reset your My ARC password simply, quickly and securely. At the login page, look for the link, ‘Forgot Password?’. You will need to enter your username and email address and then click ‘Continue.’ On the next page, complete the security questions or scroll down and click the link that states, ‘Reset your password by email.’ You will receive an email with a link to create a new password.