With airline ticket sales wrapping up for the year, now’s a great time to check that your ticket settlement processes are aligned with ARC’s latest updates to the Settlement platform and the Airline Reporting Agreement (ARA). This quick review helps ensure you’re fully compliant and ready for a smooth start to the new year. Let’s get started!

Ensure ticket settlement processes are in place to support the new sales report submission deadline of 1:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Effective January 14, 2025, agents will be required to authorize weekly sales reports by 1:59 p.m. ET rather than the current deadline of 11:59 p.m. ET. While over 85% of Agents meet this deadline today, you should review your current Tuesday report authorization processes to ensure the new deadline is met.

Task all agency personnel who issue tickets with completing ARC’s required semiannual security training. To opt out of this requirement, complete ARC’s online attestation form stating you’re your agency conducts the required training and attach a copy of your Payment Card Industry (PCI) Attestation of Compliance (AOC) certificate. (ARA Section 8.3.10, 8.3.10.1)

Validate your use of multifactor authentication (MFA). If you still need to enable MFA with your system providers (i.e., GDS, aggregator), please do so right away. (ARA Section 8.3.9)

Provide ARC with your emergency fraud point of contact. Agents are required to provide ARC with their emergency fraud contact to be used in the event suspicious activity is identified. Please review and update your information through ARC’s accreditation portal or contact ARC’s Customer Care Center. (ARA Section 8.3.8)

Ensure all agency personnel that need to access Document Retrieval Service (DRS) also have a My ARC account and access DRS through My ARC. Beginning February 6, 2025 DRS will be available exclusively through My ARC. At that time the direct DRS link will no longer work. Agents should launch DRS from the 'Your Tools' section on the My ARC home page. DRS users should also link their DRS account to their My ARC account by using the Link/Unlink button at the top of any DRS page. Visit the DRS FAQ page for more information.

Affirm (review and validate) your agency’s accreditation information. Effective November 2024, affirmation enforcement has resumed – requiring every Independent and home office location (HOL) to electronically confirm accreditation information for all related ARC locations, including, but not limited to, location details, contact information, ownership status and other personnel requirements. Reviewing this information at year-end will make it easier for you to complete this requirement, as required, on or before your ARC participation anniversary date.

While action is only required when ARC notifies you, you should be prepared for possible adjustments to your financial instrument (FI). ARC’s FI formula and maximum threshold amount were adjusted in 2024. As a result, some agents will see an increase in their required FI amount at their next FI anniversary date. Going forward, average gross cash sales based on a 12-month cycle will be used to calculate the agent’s FI amount. In addition, the maximum FI amount has increased from $70,000 to $150,000. (ARA Section 30)

While no immediate action is required, you should begin discussions with your internal technology teams, as well as mid- and back-office system providers, to ensure support of multiple forms of payment (MFOP). ARC plans to support MFOP in 2025.