ARC (Airline Reporting Corporation) was set up for the accreditation of travel agents, standardized ticketing, a computerized system and a repository of information and data. An agency has several requirements to maintain accreditation. Failure to maintain these standards can lead to financial penalties or loss of the right to issue tickets. Receipts of weekly transactions are reported to ARC through IAR; data and funds are dispensed from the reporting.
IATA defines the three letter airport codes, used for baggage routing and airport identification.
Travel agents responsible for government travelers have training on a continuing basis for trip planning and ticketing. The GDS provides an information base which aids in higher productivity for the travel industry.
Agents should have capability requirements such as corporate/government experience; information on past contracts; understanding of day-to-day operations; an understanding of the government TDY travel process.
As the airlines incurred additional costs of operations, the commissions to agents went from 10% to 2% and eventually phased out. To off set the loss of income, agent transaction fees were established. Fees have a complex cost model and have multi considerations and agents are expected to propose prices that are better than their best customer’s transaction fee for the same service.
The DoD uses a different approach when soliciting agents using a monthly fee for the CTO operation which includes travel service, transaction fees and ancillary services. Use of electronic travel systems must interface with ARC.
ETS vendors can select a TMC agency from the GSA schedule, using queues for the delivery and receipt of information between the two. The DTS was created to meet the multifaceted travel, payment and reporting requirements of the DoD, interfacing with over 30 financial systems requiring comprehensive security systems.
By: Brandy Webber