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Randall Malin, a former American Airlines and USAir executive, is now a consultant to Business Travel Contractors Corp. In the second part of a twopart interview with Fran Durbin, Travel […]

Randall Malin enjoyed a high-level career with American Airlines and USAir before becoming a consultant two-and-a-half years ago. As a measure of his stature in the travel agency industry, he […]

Outgoing ASTA president Philip Davidoff said travel agents should "support" Northwest and USAir to maintain a competitive airline industry, doubted that cruise discounting is hurting travel agency profitability and predicted […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Dick Knodt, ASTA's chief of staff for less than three months, started the job by telling the 75-person staff that "our members are our customers." Driven by […]

ASTA president-elect Earlene Causey stated that "teamwork" will be the hallmark of her two-year administration, and revealed that she will take a personal, hands-on approach to working with suppliers, government […]

Midterm Update: Davidoff Sounds A Warning on Agency Dealerships * WASHINGTON - Discussing the state of the travel industry, ASTA president Philip Davidoff expressed concern that increased airline consolidation could […]

ARLINGTON, Va. -- No doubt about it, the war was a windfall for SatoTravel. With more than 90% of its nearly $1 billion volume coming from the military, SatoTravel found […]

At last, a guide to the alphabet-soup world of ticket delivery systems THE ABCs OF STPs First ARC made the STP. The STP then became so popular that it spawned […]

ARTA's Bessel, Ending First Year, Seeks Equal Agent-Supplier Roles * One year ago Paul Bessel assumed the presidency of ARTA, the organization's chief of staff, after a controversial departure from […]

Davidoff: 'Unbelievable Openness' Will Be Hallmark of My Presidency * Philip Davidoff, ASTA's new president, outlined his philosophy of leadership and some of the new programs that he will initiate […]

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Airlines Reporting Corp. said it plans to roll out its long-awaited electronic sales-reporting product for travel agents in two stages, starting in January. In the first […]

WASHINGTON -- Beginning Aug. 8, employees of 116,945 state and local governmental entities automatically will get a 10% discount on domestic flights when traveling on official business on eight major […]

WASHINGTON -- Sato-Travel appears to be gearing up for a long fight to stop certain government entities from combining official and leisure travel in contracts. The airline-owned corporation, based in […]

Midway through her two-year term as ASTA president, Earlene Causey talked about her goals to unify industry segments, recruit new members and encourage existing members to get more involved in […]

ASTA executive vice president Dick Knodt ran a California travel agency for 22 years, served on the Society's staff from 1982 to 1984 and returned as chief of staff nearly […]

WASHINGTON--SatoTravel, whose air commissions are based on its costs, reported that it held its average air commission to 9.27% last year despite higher personnel and rebate expenses. SatoTravel calculates that […]

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Is yield management driving the hotel industry into the same crazy pricing system that airlines have? Why do some front-desk clerks lower a client's rate and wipe […]

TIA Study Details African-American Market's Travel Patterns WASHINGTON -- A "benchmark" study of the travel patterns and demographics of the African-American market was unveiled by the Travel Industry Association. The […]

Airlines Reporting Corp. president David Collins said about 90% of the paperwork involved with ARC sales reports will be eliminated for travel agents who take the future option of transmitting […]

WASHINGTON -- The International Airlines Travel Agent Network will revamp and modernize its travel agency standards and application forms, with an emphasis on making the rules more flexible, possibly effective […]

WASHINGTON - Paul Ruden, ASTA staff senior vice president, expressed confidence that airlines will follow Delta's lead and pay agency commissions on the entire value of tickets purchased by clients […]

It's astonishing how many airline representatives have no clue to what agents are thinking," says Natalie Intrater, owner of Discovery Travel in Chevy Chase, Md. Intrater, who is president of […]

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Reporting a "banner year" in 1991, SatoTravel announced that it reduced its average air commission from 10.24% in 1990 to 9.25% last year. "We have re-established the […]

In the second of a two-part series, David Collins, president of the Airlines Reporting Corp., outlined ARC's progress in curtailing credit card chargebacks and responded to a New York agency's […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- ASTA runs the risk of becoming "an exclusive, comfortable club" unless it expands its services and diversifies membership, according to Ron Smith, the Society's executive vice president. […]

Davidoff Discusses Commission Collection Problems, Solutions * ASTA president Philip Davidoff discussed his proposal for a "code of fair play" for the hotel industry, along with his views on hotel […]

A Personal Look at ASTA's New Chief * WASHINGTON - Philip Davidoff got into the travel agency business because he and his wife Doris were looking for a place to […]

Educator: ETDNs Offer Low-Cost Way to Enhance Ticket Distribution WASHINGTON - Electronic ticket delivery networks, a hot technology on the horizon, will give travel agents the ability to issue tickets […]

IATAN Official Sees Network Expand to Fill New Demands * To mark the fifth anniversary of the International Airlines Travel Agent Network, executive vice president A. Randolph Burton was interviewed […]

WASHINGTON -- Colonial Williamsburg, the restored 18th century capital of Virginia, joined ARC as a supplier, enabling travel agents to sell passes to the attraction on ARC tour orders, effective […]

WASHINGTON -- American Express opened a fulfillment center in Cherry Hill, N.J., exclusively for its outside sales representatives. The announcement was made by Tharwat Abouraya, American Express regional director of […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC reported that 140 full-service travel agencies voluntarily relinquished their ARC accreditation during August, the smallest number in a month since June 1999. The figure was below the […]

WASHINGTON -- The Air Force's Air Education and Training Command estimated its accounts' annual official air sales of $33.15 million and its annual leisure travel sales of $15.4 million, spread […]

WASHINGTON -- Six agencies stopped Travis Air Force Base from putting its $4.5 million official travel account out for rebid using procedures that would have cut them out of the […]

WASHINGTON -- The General Services Administration published per diem rates for lodging, meals and incidentals for federal travelers to 424 continental U.S. cities, effective Oct. 1 for 12 months. In […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC created a Web page to showcase its "travel and destination vendors," the theme parks and diverse other suppliers outside the ranks of airlines and railroads that want […]

Pushes e-reporting for smaller agencies WASHINGTON -- ARC is stepping up its efforts to get small and medium-sized travel agencies to sign up for its electronic reporting program. To reach […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC has taken over and is "warehousing" the function of processing agents' ticket requisitions. The corporation acted after the former vendor, DocuSystems Inc., hit on hard financial times […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC launched a registration service to provide booking numbers to non-ARC agents who have CRS access to airline inventory and will make reservations for their clients, but don't […]

Web bookers are more likely to buy leisure travel * Following are results of one of a series of consumer surveys, sponsored by Travel Weekly and conducted by Plog Research, […]

Mid-Sized, $2-$5 Million Agencies Still Form The Backbone Of The Industry Somewhere there's a face amid all the charts and statistics that show travel agencies posted a record $142.8 billion […]

WASHINGTON -- Twelve travel agencies won master contracts from the General Services Administration, enabling them to compete for federal business in five states, two cities and the U.S. Virgin Islands […]

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- The Corporate Travel Department, a management and operational consulting firm here, published a 22-page guide to help firms gain ARC accreditation as corporate travel departments. The […]

WASHINGTON -- Fourteen U.S. airlines won government contracts to provide discount fares to federal employees flying on official trips in about 5,000 domestic and international city-pair markets, the General Services […]

WASHINGTON -- The average ARC domestic commission taken by travel agents at the point of sale was 4.08% in July. The rate continues a seemingly inexorable fall from 6.27% in […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC announced that it has application forms for its newest type of travel agency office, the centralized service location. The location is designed for centralized ticket fulfillment and […]

WASHINGTON -- The Transportation Department called for bids by Aug. 28 for a Web-based travel expense processing service for the U.S. government that would be part of the DOT's federal […]

WASHINGTON -- ARC said it is trying to fix a glitch that occurs when travel agents void sales of electronic air tickets but the void messages never get to the […]

WASHINGTON -- The General Accounting Office postponed a decision until after Aug. 15 on whether Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., can put its 84.5 million official travel account […]