New Version of ARC’s Debit Memo Tool Includes Enhancements

Photo: ARC/Linkedin

The Airlines Reporting Corp. released Version 2.0 of Memo Analyzer, its subscription-based business intelligence solution that provides travel agencies and airlines a comprehensive view of debit memos.

Memo Analyzer benchmarks against industry metrics and provides insight as to why a ticket triggers a memo. This, in turn, allows agencies and carriers to explore ways to lessen the number of memos issued.

In 2015, there were nearly 493,000 debit memos issued for U.S. point-of-sale transactions totaling $143 million. The average per-memo amount was $289.

The top reason for debit memos was commissions, followed by fares and taxes. Together, they accounted for 47% of the total amount.

Memo Analyzer 2.0 includes enhancements based on feedback from current users.

These include access to data via Tableau Online, a solution that allows users to share dashboards created in the cloud. It allows for mobile-compatible access to daily memo data and the ability for users to customize views and configure branch-level user permissions.

When a GDS generates a debit memo—for example, due to an error in auto-pricing—the agency will “assign” the memo to the GDS. Until now, the GDS has had no visibility into this process.

But two of the three GDS companies are using Memo Analyzer, and a new chart shows GDS-assigned memos, bringing clarity to the number and dollar amount of memos assigned to each GDS.

Additionally, a new partner profile dashboard offers a deeper analysis of debit memo performance, including the number of days to close a memo; memo reason trend counts over time, and the ability to download and share dashboards with partners for enhanced communication.

ARC’s efforts in addressing the debit memo issue—the Debit Memo Working Group, the recently published debit memo reason codes, Memo Analyzer and other tools—are having a positive impact on agency-airline relationships, according to Shelly Younger, manager of settlement services.

Craig Miller, director of revenue accounting and sales at United Airlines, agrees. “Memo Analyzer has proven to be invaluable in validating performance, strengthening agency relationships and, ultimately, helping us reduce debit memo issuance,” he said.