ARC is slated to roll out a Web-based tool
in mid-July that will automate the management of the mostly manual
process for negotiating and settling debit and credit memos. About
1,170 agency locations and about 21 airlines, but no U.S. majors,
had pre-registered for ARC Memo Manager as of last week. However,
ARC expects major U.S. carriers to sign-on "imminently." ARC Memo
Manager enables airlines, agencies and GDSs to conduct their
dialogue online, share documentation and settle the matter
electronically. ARC believes the new tool will reduce costs for all
parties. Agents will retain the ability to pull memos in dispute
from the settlement process, said ASTA. Agent use of ARC Memo
Manager will not be mandatory. "Nonetheless, it is anticipated that
some participating airlines may individually mandate that agents
use Memo Manager to process their memos," ASTA stated.
DELTA revamped Delta.com in partnership
with iSeatz and travel insurance provider Access America, expanding
the array of non-air inventory that travelers can book along with
their Delta flights. In the same booking path that visitors use for
flight reservations, consumers also can book hotels, car rentals,
airport parking, Crown Room Club passes and destination activities.
In the relaunch of Delta.com, iSeatz, a New Orleans-headquartered
company, provided a technology solution and some of the vendor
relationships, particularly for ground transportation and airport
parking. Access America is also a technology provider and is
offering trip protection options.
VACATION.COM will launch a leisure-selling
system, EZGuider, focused on the group's preferred suppliers of
cruise, tour, insurance and ancillary travel products. The
platform, to make its debut in November, will be free to member
agencies and accessible via AgentNet, the trade group's intranet.
Comm-tec Solutions, the U.S. division of U.K.-based Comtec,
developed the platform. Future upgrades will provide air, car and
hotel booking capabilities, according to Vacation.com, which
disclosed its plans in New Orleans at its annual
conference.
THE
ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE TRAVEL EXECUTIVES and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a friend-of-the-court brief
related to laptop inspections and seizures at U.S. borders, arguing
that such scrutiny minimally should be based on reasonable
suspicion of criminal activity. The two organizations stated that
they "greatly value secure national borders, but also urge the
court to require that our borders be policed reasonably." The
brief, filed last month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit in Los Angeles, asks the court to affirm a lower court
ruling in U.S. v. Michael Timothy Arnold. In that ruling, which the
government is appealing, the lower court threw out evidence against
the defendant in a child pornography case, saying that border
agents' initial warrantless search of the defendant's laptop
violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable
searches.
EXPEDIA
CORPORATE TRAVEL plans to expand service into Italy in
August, which would be its fifth point of sale in Europe. ECT will
provide corporate travel services in Italy in partnership with
L'Orchidea Viaggi, a travel management company that will provide
local fulfillment services. ECT has Europe operations in France,
Germany, the U.K. and Belgium.
SPECIAL
NOTE:Beginning in July, the Technology E-letter will
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month.
Technology
Editor: Dennis Schaal
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