ARC UPDATES JAB-ARA ON BUSINESS PROCESS INITIATIVES

May 5, 2003 - Arlington, VA - ARC's Joint Advisory Board - Agent Reporting Agreement (JAB-ARA) met by teleconference on April 30 to be updated on ongoing business process initiatives.  ARC management briefed travel agent and carrier representatives to the JAB-ARA on progress toward the June 4 implementation of BPI - Phase I - the new voiding process and associated business process improvements.

Of particular interest to the group were recommendations from the Agent Working Group (AWG) establishing priorities for addressing opportunities to improve the exchange transaction processing.  The AWG identified a list of technical improvements that would serve to make the complicated exchange transaction easier to process through ARC's electronic reporting system.  Within the context of ARC's four-month dialog with the agent community concerning BPI Phase I, ARC committed to aggressively pursue a resolution to the half-dozen top priorities, as identified by the AWG, concerning exchange transaction processing in coordination with ARC's stakeholder communities.   Toward this goal, ARC will be working with travel agents, carriers, and GDSs to seek cooperation for a coordinated and aggressive approach.

Also related to BPI is a commitment from ARC to provide travel agents and CTDs with a letter intended for further distribution by the agent and CTD to their customers.  This letter explains that the new void rules are ARC mandated rather than imposed by the individual agent or CTD. The letter was suggested as a means of helping the agent and CTD in the event that a customer threatens to take their business elsewhere in the hope of being met by more liberal void opportunities.  The letter is available in ARC's Web site at http://www.arccorp.com/news/news_imp_bus_proc.html. for agents to retrieve and print at their discretion.