IATAN Awards Travel Agent Identification Cards To CTDs

<B>IATAN Awards Travel Agent Identification Cards To CTDs</B>

By Sarah Welt

The International Airlines Travel Agent Network on Jan. 12 gave the green light for Corporate Travel Departments to receive the much-coveted travel agent identification card--much to the chagrin of the American Society of Travel Agents.

Under the terms of the agreement, only full-time employees who dedicate 100 percent of their time to the CTD are eligible for IATAN registration. CTD personnel also cannot register until they have served for one year in the industry with a traditional travel agency or CTD. Additionally, for each person registered by a CTD, companies are required to submit an affidavit certifying that the individual meets the program's prerequisites.

The initial application and listing fee for CTDs is $360, compared with the $240 traditional agencies pay. An annual service fee costs CTDs $125, compared with the $65 full service agencies are charged, and ID cards will cost CTDs $30 instead of $15. IATAN's president and CEO Mike Maino said costs are higher for CTDs because of the additional work involved to administer the program, specifically in verifying that a corporation's employees do indeed work in the CTD.

It is easier to determine an employee of a traditional travel agency through payroll records, but figuring out if a corporate employee definitely works in travel, as opposed to some other department, is more difficult, said Maino. With CTDs, "payroll records become very questionable in terms of assisting us in validating where an individual works," he added.

While much of the industry is pleased with IATAN's decision, ASTA has publicly condemned the organization for recognizing the CTD. ASTA president and CEO Joe Galloway said that IATAN has devalued the card that differentiated "bona fide travel professionals from travel customers. A real travel agent sells to the public on behalf of a travel supplier. That is not what CTDs do."

"The people we are extending our registration and ID card programs to are not the 'customers' anymore than the employees of a traditional travel agency are," Maino responded. He added that IATAN waited two years after the CTD category was established before taking action, and has been fair and responsible, holding those individuals to a higher standard.

Andrew Menkes, vice president of global travel management at HSBC Bank USA in New York (formerly Republic National Bank), has been involved from the beginning of the quest to get ID cards, and is pleased with IATAN's decision. "I don't object because this is a new designation that didn't exist three years ago," he said."I applaud the fact they recognize these agents--many of whom were travel agency employees in the past."

The National Business Travel Association also has been instrumental in getting ID cards to CTDs. According to executive director Norman Sherlock, NBTA has been working for the past five years to get the card extended to those people within a corporation who control business travel volume. "They are the ones who should have been given the card all along," he said, "and now they are being recognized through the CTD format.