American Society of Travel Agents, Carlson Travel Network Associates and Uniglobe Travel USA appealed to the Independent Arbitration Panel to rescind the Airlines Reporting Corporation board decision last week to increase 2008 administrative fees

The for travel agents and designated corporate travel departments by as much as 172 percent effective Jan. 1. The three members of ARC’s Joint Advisory Board-Agent Reporting have 15 days to file their complete appeals, according to rules dictating that the appeal process be completed within 162 days. Annual agency and CTD fees are to increase to $395 from $145 for home office locations and to $150 from $145 for branch locations. In addition, transaction fees are to increase from 1.7 cents to 2 cents each for agencies or CTDs that process more than 1,000 transactions per quarter. In its filing, the agency representatives asked the IAP to "find that the fee increases adopted by ARC are not justified by the level of costs, nor do they reflect a fair allocation of costs between travel agencies and ARC."