ARLINGTON, Va. -- Warren Safley, an automation guru for Mutual
Travel in Seattle, won accolades from the Airlines Reporting Corp.
for becoming the first person to get a 100% score on the Certified
ARC Specialist test.
ARC flew Safley to its
headquarters here for a press conference and photo session,
presented him with a framed CAS certificate and congratulatory
letter from ARC president David Collins, then rushed him off to
lunch with Collins.
Safley, a former high school math teacher who has been in the
travel business since 1980, has new business cards with the CAS
designation after his name.
He described the two-hour, 100-question test, which runs the
gamut of ARC rules ranging from ticket security to exchanges, as
"difficult but fair."
To date, 282 people have taken the test and 212 passed with an
average score of 84%, according to Dennis Boyce, ARC training
manager. A score of 70% or more is passing. If a person fails
twice, training is required before the test can be taken again "and
we have two people who have succeeded in doing that," Boyce
said.
As of Jan. 1, it will be mandatory for all newly opened home and
branch agencies (except satellite ticket printer locations) and
existing agencies that undergo major ownership changes to have an
employee who passed the test. An agency that opens a branch or is
sold anytime after Jan. 1 will need to hire someone out of the
small pool of Certified ARC Specialists, or arrange for a current
employee to arrange quickly to take the test.
Safley went through ARC's two-day training program beforehand
and said the test "would be difficult if not impossible to pass
without training" by ARC or elsewhere.
In his position as Mutual Travel's director of technology
interfaces, Safley admitted that "I had never looked at a sales
report." Now, he said, he has a lot more empathy for the people in
his agency's accounting department.
The hardest part of the test? "Reconciliation of sales reports."
The easiest part? "Putting down my name."
Safley said he will train other Mutual Travel employees to take
the test so the agency will "be well ahead" of the curve and have a
Certified ARC Specialist at each of its 35 to 40 staffed branches
when and if ARC phases in the requirement for existing
agencies.
The purpose of the test is to ensure that one person in an
agency has some knowledge of the firm's responsibilities under the
ARC contract. It replaces the requirement to have one employee with
one year of ticketing experience -- a requirement deemed obsolete
by computers.
In view of the Jan. 1 deadline for new agencies, ARC said it
anticipates a "rapidly increasing demand for CAS certification,"
and urged test candidates "to register early to secure their
place." Asked whether ARC might extend the deadline, Collins
replied, "We feel we're already given good notice" of "a full
year."
As for existing agencies, Collins has said ARC plans to take
another look next year at the idea of phasing in the testing
requirement. Last year ARC deferred consideration at the request of
trade leaders.
The test costs $95 and is given at numerous proctored sites
around the country, some with regularly scheduled sessions and some
that allow agents to schedule the test at their own convenience.
ARC's two-day training session costs $185; training plus the test
on the third day is $225. ARC is holding sessions at 10 locations
during the rest of this year.
A list of sites and dates is on ARC's Web site at
www.arccorp.com and fax-back service at (800) 811-1608, documents
20, 21 and 23.