YTB and IATAN (again)

The other day, Travel Weekly ran a column about YTB fighting with IATA to get their cancellation rescinded. Now after all the posturing and all of the RTAs and Reps screaming that YTB does not need IATAN and so forth, it seems that management has a different view.

I suspect this about face has a lot to do with their provisional certifications in British Columbia and Ontario. But I also have to question how receptive IATA will be to reinstatement when you hear things such as this:

After labeling the IATAN program "the biggest card mill in the world," YTB said IATA's refusal to let the agency attempt to change practices in order to regain the IATA endorsement was an indication that IATA was trying to eliminate YTB as competition "for being a perceived threat to [IATAN's] monopoly in the travel card industry."

As one MLMer might say, LOL too funny. Now YTB thinks that their issuing their IATAN number to 140,000 people that paid them $449 was not the issue but that IATA felt they were a threat to the existence of the IATAN card. Are the executives at YTB drinking the Kool Aid too? I thought they just served it!

Here is a tip, when you are looking to affect change and you are not in control of it; it is wise to not piss off those who are in a position to affect that change.

So, why is IATA endorsement now all of a sudden such a big deal? Is Canada onto the scheme?

PS: Blog note--yesterday was indeed April 1 and for those TTAs and MLMers that believed the story about TAG acquiring YTB, it was false. The story was created by a colleague who will go unnamed and I applaud him for his creativity and sense of humor. Secondly, I am not ignoring the 10K--I am reading it. Not the most exciting bathroom reading material, but there is some interesting insight to be gained. Stay tuned. After all it is like 125 pages!