Change in Debit Memo Fee Structure Saved Agents $616,000 Last Year

Travel agencies saved $616,000 in fees last year under an Airlines Reporting Corp. program that rewards quick resolution of debit memos.

In January 2015, the Ticket Resolution Services (TRS) program eliminated compensation fees for agencies if TRS tickets are paid within 15 days of issuance.

The change also benefits airlines.

The number of TRS debit memos resolved within 15 days increased from 46% in the first half of 2015 to 65% in the last six months of the year.

Before January 2015, ARC charged travel agencies a flat fee of $43 per ticket for each TRS-related debit memo, regardless of when the memo was paid.

(If the TRS memo was successfully disputed, the fee was not charged. That policy continues to apply, regardless of the age of the memo.)

As part of the changes imposed in 2015, a flat fee of $55 per ticket is applied if a debit memo is not resolved within 15 days.

The policy change to the TRS debit memo was based on feedback from the ARC Debit Memo Working Group, which aims to reduce the number of debit memos and to remove some of the pain from the processing of them for both travel agents and airlines.