Le CTAC convoque une réunion d'urgence à Toronto le 7 Juin

We the undersigned travel agents are deeply concerned about the impending changes planned by IATA which will forever alter, for the worse, our ability to sell airline tickets in Canada. You have no doubt seen the Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) Agreement which IATA wants us to sign, and the new audit and financial requirements which have also been announced last month. While both ACTA and CSTAR have different views on these critical issues, we, the travel agents of Canada, will have to live with the outcome of IATA's mandate, and for most of us, this would have dire consequences on our businesses.

Unless we take immediate steps to address these issues, it is our sincere belief that as a result of IATA's current plans:

1. The new audit requirements will force most every travel agency in Canada to maintain financial surety and guarantees with IATA - today $10,000.00, but ever- increasing year-after-year. We will soon have to make personal guarantees, collateralize cash in GICs or bonds, or even pledge our homes.

2. The new PAD Agreement will allow IATA to move to daily reporting and remitting, permitting IATA to debit our bank accounts for whatever amount IATA wants and whenever IATA chooses.

3. BSPlink and the new functionalities approved by IATA such as "fee/charges codes" for airline tickets to facilitate carriers passing on distribution costs including ticketing fees, GDS fees, credit card cost recovery fees, and other distribution-related costs, provide the airlines and IATA with more tools to offload costs on us and to enable carriers to take market share from Canadian travel agencies.

4. IATA's easier and faster access to our cash will allow airlines to remove our use of the airlines' merchant agreements for credit card sales, forcing travel agencies to become the merchant in credit card transactions, thereby creating a "cash-only" form of payment system between airlines and travel agencies. While our customers will still be able to use their credit cards, we will have to process the transaction on our own merchant systems and remit the cash to the airlines. None of us could afford to absorb the merchant fees and passing these costs on to our clients will be nearly impossible. For many agencies, this would be the end of airline sales via BSP and our GDSs.

We are not alone in these beliefs. The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is meeting with its top-tier members in Washington, DC on 11 June 2007 to address many of these same issues. No one can ignore this grave situation.

- We are not prepared to accept IATA's terms.
- We are not prepared to surrender reasonable, equitable, and long-standing business practices.
- We are not prepared to lose the investment in our travel agency businesses.
- We are not prepared to turn-over our clients to airline direct sales.

Accordingly, we are asking every travel agency which can, to join us in Toronto for a most important meeting:

Date: Thursday, 07 June 2007
Time: 1:00PM-4:00PM
Location: Park Plaza Hotel Toronto Airport
33 Carlson Court
(Adjacent to Pearson International Airport, off Dixon Road at Attwell Drive)
Toronto, Ontario M9W 6H5
Tel: 416-675-1234
Shuttle Service: From/to YYZ available at arrivals area in Terminals 1 and 3

Click here for map of Park Plaza Hotel Toronto Airport

The objective of the meeting is to fully discuss these crucial matters, determine our options, prepare a strategic response, and to protect our businesses. Both ACTA and CSTAR were invited to express their views on these important matters.

While CSTAR has accepted our invitation, ACTA has advised that it will not participate. The substance of ACTA's reply is that it does not believe IATA is moving to daily reporting, it believes the PAD Agreement clarifies various issues for all stakeholders, it believes that the new financial and audit requirements are in line with similar requirements in provincially-regulated jurisdictions, and most surprisingly, ACTA has advised that it does not understand how agencies entering into cash sureties and guarantees with IATA will pave the way for a cash-only BSP Canada remittance system, even though we clearly laid out this eventuality in our letter and invitation to ACTA. ACTA has also stated that another reason that it cannot attend our meeting on 07 June 2007 is that ACTA is "quite busy" organizing its AGM and Atlas Awards Gala (to be held on 02 June 2007).

A copy of our invitation to ACTA is available by clicking here.

A copy of ACTA's decision not to attend is available by clicking here.

It is most important to understand that ACTA itself proposed the new financial audit and standards requirements to IATA, and it was ACTA which consulted with IATA on the development of the PAD Agreement. ACTA's proposal to IATA will be voted on by the airlines at the IATA Passenger Agency Conference in Geneva on 13 June 2007, and it is critical that ACTA understand the consensus of agencies across Canada before the meeting in Geneva takes place. While it is our feeling that ACTA should withdraw the proposal before it is too late, we wanted to give ACTA every opportunity to explain its position so that we could understand why it would propose such requirements. ACTA's unwillingness to discuss these issues directly with agencies is of the greatest concern to all of us.

We call on ACTA members to persuade ACTA to change its mind and to accept the invitation to participate at the meeting on 07 June 2007. Nothing could be more important than addressing these serious issues. Please contact your local ACTA officials or ACTA President Christiane Théberge directly (ctheberge@acta.ca).

CSTAR has agreed to assist us in the facilitation of this meeting and is managing distribution of this message and confirmations for attendance. As we wish to assure sufficient facilities to accommodate all those who wish to attend, please confirm your intention to participate no later than close of business, Monday, 04 June 2007 by sending an e-mail to: meeting@cstar.ca

Well-managed travel agencies have survived commission cuts, 9/11 and many other challenges over the years - the question now is whether we can survive BSPlink, PAD, and the proposed financial terms of IATA Resolution 800f.

Please make the time to attend. Our future depends on it.

Sincerely,

CTAC Steering Committee