The travel industry is chock-full of widely used acronyms that can seem intimidating for some new entrants. To help with that, TMR has put together a short guide to some of the more commonly used ones for new agents, and even veteran agents, to inform themselves.
Here are just some of those acronyms—and their definitions—for those too afraid to ask.
ARC – Airlines Reporting Corp.
ARC is a settlement service provider for airlines and travel agencies, settling more than $97 billion in transactions annually. It is the transaction link between agencies, whether corporate or leisure and individual airlines. It also serves as an accreditor for travel agencies who use GDSs (see below) to book tickets.
ARC also provides an incredible amount of data on those ticket sales—some look at its industry role now as more of a data provider than an accreditor for travel agencies. Its wealth of data includes monthly ticket sales, airline pricing…