ARC Changing Its Payment Delivery Schedule
by Daniel McCarthy
The move doubles ARC’s time to deliver payments from airlines to travel agencies from five days to ten days. Photo: Shutterstock.com.
Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) will temporarily move its draft and disbursement day from the Friday after the sales week close to the following Wednesday.
The move, which will start period beginning on March 29, doubles ARC’s time to deliver payments from airlines to travel agencies from five days to ten days. ARC said it is changing the timeline because reported cash sales from agencies no longer exceed refunds.
According to ARC, for the week ending March 22, U.S.-based travel agency sales were down 90 percent year over year.
“One of ARC’s core functions is the settlement and movement of funds between participating airlines and accredited travel agencies,” ARC wrote in an email to its travel advisor customers.
“In a normally functioning market, reported cash sales from travel agencies far exceed cash refunds, meaning that ARC is able to easily execute its clearinghouse function and distribute net funds to the appropriate parties shortly after each period ending date (PED). However, the present environment has created an inversion in the market. Refunds now frequently exceed sales.”
ARC’s processing schedule for credit card transactions will not change, nor will the Tuesday sales report submission deadline.
