SABRE CHARGE FOR TRAVEL AGENT SERVICE FEE A BLOW TO TRAVEL AGENTS, ARC SAYS

Arlington, VA, August 20, 2004 - Travel agents, who have been challenged in recent years to secure added income sources, will be forced to incur high monthly fees to access service fee programs as a result of a policy announced by the Sabre Travel Network, the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) said in response to the announcement.

"Sabre has elected to impose a fee on access to the ARC product that we have provided to travel professionals over the past decade," Kathi Argiropoulos, ARC vice president of travel agency services, said. "The travel community should know that ARC is in no way involved in this action by Sabre, nor will it benefit from this action."

Argiropoulos said that while travel agents have suffered financially, Sabre reported second quarter 2004 revenues of $551 million, an 8.6 percent increase over the same quarter in 2003.

ARC's service fee program was made available to travel agents in 1995 in response to market demand following reductions in commissions paid to agents. Throughout the past decade, ARC has continued to improve its service fee product. All GDSs have supported their travel agency subscribers by facilitating automation of the MCO document and eliminating the need for manual preparation of settlement documents. Today the automated service fee transaction data is sent daily to ARC, loaded into the travel agents' ARC sales report, and is immediately available as a credit to the travel agent as an offset against airline ticket sales.

Statistical information on the program is not published by ARC at the request of travel agents in 1995; however, the program is popular and is widely used by ARC travel agents. "With this action by Sabre," added Argiropoulos, "the costs to travel agents using ARC's product have been significantly increased-by Sabre."

ARC's program continues to offer unique benefits to the travel professional including access to all major credit and T&E cards including UATP; automatic access to the system with no qualification required; a blended rate of 3.5 percent for all card types on transactions of $20 and over ($.70 per transaction for those under $20); individual transaction limits up to $500 with automatic inclusion in the agent's sales report for ease of reconciliation; confidential treatment of all aspects of the processing, and, no additional assessment for chargebacks.

About ARC

ARC is the premier provider of financial settlement solutions and data and analytical services for the travel industry. Airlines, travel agencies, corporate travel departments, railroads, and other travel suppliers process more than $60 billion annually through ARC's world-class settlement system, making it the financial backbone of travel distribution.  ARC COMPASS®, the leading, trusted source for travel transaction information, powers data and analytical tools that help ARC customers make confident business decisions.   ARC is an airline-owned company that builds on values of integrity, teamwork, innovation, cost-effectiveness, and excellence.   For more information, please visit http://www.arccorp.com.