February 26, 2003 - Arlington, VA - ARC's Board of Directors (Board) met yesterday via conference call from ARC's Arlington, VA headquarters to consider ARC's management proposal for shortening the window of time during which voiding of transactions is permitted.  ARC proposed that voiding, which is the intended vehicle for correction of errors, would be limited to the day of the transaction and up until midnight of the day following the transaction, through a GDS.  Moreover, voiding would be available through IAR for an additional 24 hours, up until midnight of the second day following the transaction.  ARC's management proposal calls for implementation of the new BPI initiative Phase I on April 30, 2003.

Yesterday's meeting of the Board follows a three-month period of industry dialog during which ARC management has conferred extensively with industry groups representing a broad array of professionals including the Travel Agent Working Group, an Executive Forum (representing consortia, mega-agent, and agent association executives), and ARC's Corporate Travel Advisory groups and associations including NBTA and ACTE.  Out of this extensive dialog came numerous suggestions such as the additional twenty-four hour period for voiding through IAR.

At a recent meeting of the JAB-ARA (February 20, 2003), several additional concerns were articulated and a representative of the travel agent participants on the JAB-ARA was invited to summarize agent concerns before the meeting of the Board today.  Present yesterday to do so was Mr. Paul Ruden, CTC, Senior Vice President for Legal and Industry Affairs of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).

Following Mr. Ruden's presentation and further discussion, the Board expressed support for ARC management's voiding proposal, and for the April 30, 2003 effective date.  However, the Board requested that further dialog be pursued in an effort to address the concerns advanced by agents, CTDs and corporate travelers, and directed that a meeting of the JAB-ARA be convened as soon as possible for this purpose.  The issues of timing, exchange processing and compatibility of customer policies were noted as ones on which the Board would be interested in receiving added input.  Accordingly, a special meeting of the JAB-ARA has been called for March 4, 2003.