Late yesterday afternoon, I got my daily dose of travel news from Travel Trade where they discussed the failure of YTB's appeal for the return of their IATA number. When I began to really think about this, I have to laugh.
Back in October of 2007, IATAN was THE credential to have according to YTB. It was all over their recruiting material and everyone was looking to have the IATAN card for the free and discounted travel.
November rolls around and YTB gets tossed to the curb by IATAN and Royal Caribbean. The response from YTB is "we don't need no Royal Caribbean or no stinking IATAN."
January 2008 enters the picture and it seems that the provisional license to sell travel in Canada is predicated on having an IATA endorsement. Well all of a sudden, "maybe we do need that stinking IATAN". But that does not seem possible because Scott Tomer ran his mouth off saying that IATAN tossed them because YTB was a competitor of IATAN. So they bought a travel agency. But it seems that they were unaware that the IATA numbers are not necessarily transferable.
February 2008 finds YTB hiring a big gun travel lawyer Al Anolik to plead their case for reinstatement to the Travel Agency Commissioner. Wow, YTB must be beginning to understand that IATAN is kind of a big deal.
Late March and early April, YTB is convinced that if they maybe buy a travel company in the US, like say Hickory Travel Systems, the Travel Agency Commissioner will HAVE to see it their way and give them back their number.
And here we are to April 16th. A no go. It ain't happening. The Commissioner completely held up the original ruling.
So, what was the response from YTB? Well, let me quote Al Anolik:
The decision is actually a victory for YTB. We are using the code and can use it because we got it from ARC. IATA cannot control a YTB in the US that is fully accredited by ARC. We quit using the IATA symbol a long time ago. We are are going to continue business as usual and as for flashing the IATA card. we won't have any IATA symbol on our cards. IATA cannot interfere with our relationship with ARC and if they did, they wil have an antitrust suit.
Wow, so it seems like YTB is back to the "we don't need no stinking IATAN" again! And it seems that Mr. Anolik may have drank the kool aid in the YTB cafeteria because only YTB logic can somehow say that losing a legal challenge is exactly what they wanted. I wonder if that is the tactic they would use if the FTC, SEC, or the IRS came after them?
So what is it guys? Is IATA something you want or not? Seems like you wanted it for recruiting. Seems like you wanted it enough to hire an expensive attorney to go get it for you. Seems like you wanted it enough to buy an agency in Toronto. Seems like you wanted it enough to open negotiations to purchase Hickory. But your attorney says that the denial of the IATA number is really the victory you all sought in the first place.
Wow, that is almost as clear as the compensation plan!
