Some 85 countries around the world establish their published GDS fares in U.S. dollars, and for the first time in 31 years, commercial imbalances are created in favour of Canadian air travellers when passenger fares are priced and ticketed in U.S. dollars, but converted into Canadian dollars for reporting and remitting to BSP Canada.

The impact of the weakening U.S. dollar on airline pricing is significant. The U.S. dollar is the airline industry's preeminent "basic" currency. It is the largest percentage (44%) of the Special Drawing Right (SDR), a synthetic valuation used to implement airline "currency adjustments" and a key benchmark at the IATA Clearing House. It is also the currency upon which the neutral unit of construction (NUC) is largely based.

ATC, in cooperation with the Canadian Standard Travel Agent Registry (CSTAR), will offer a series of Currency Webinars to assist BSP Canada reporting travel agencies in understanding the new opportunities available to provide creative and competitive pricing of transborder and international air fares as the Canadian dollar surpasses the U.S. dollar in value.

Currency Webinars
The Currency Webinar is a one hour web-based training program and is highly recommended for frontline sales personnel who regularly sell and service transborder and international air transactions. This webinar has no minimum experience requirements and includes concepts which are easily understood by all levels of travel retailers. This webinar is also recommended for those individuals who are responsible for the planning and for the development of strategy for Internet ticket sales or other e-commerce initiatives in the sale of international and transborder air transportation.

Key Currency Webinar Topics
Topics which will be discussed include:

• General Overview of Airline Currency Rules and Procedures
• Understanding the NUC, ROE, and BBR/BSR
• Comparing Values of Foreign-denominated Fares
• 85 IATA Countries Using USD for Published Fares
• Split Ticketing versus Cross-border Ticketing
• Taxes, Fees, and Charges Considerations
• Overriding GDS Pricing Without Affecting Autopricing Protection
• Multiple Ticketing Records and E-Ticket Factors
• Agency Competitive Strategies Compared to Online Web Sales
• Question and Answer Forum

Tuition for the Currency Webinar
Tuition for the Currency Webinar, which permits an unlimited number of participants in a single office location, is CAD 110.00 (plus applicable Canadian taxes). Given the nature of this training program, and to keep log-in costs down, it is recommended that attendees call from a conference room where facilities are in place for a group of agents to share a single connected PC and speakerphone. Multiple log-ins from different PCs and dial-ins from more than one telephone line require separate tuition payment. A discount of CAD 30.00 is offered to CSTAR members provided that registration occurs prior to the enrollment deadline indicated below. Tuition must be paid online using ATC's secure web payment system, and only VISA and MasterCard are accepted. We regret that the American Express card is not accepted. Enrollment for this program is expected to be extremely high. Please register early to assure acceptance into the session of your choice.

Currency Webinar Sessions
The Currency Webinar is one hour long in its entirety. Each session below is the entire program, not a series of sessions which continue from a previous session. Registration for the session of your choice below is the full program, repeated identically on each date.

*Registration after the enrollment deadline indicated above is subject to a late registration fee of CAD 30.00 (plus applicable taxes). Please register on-time. Space is extremely limited.

Online Webinar Requirements
This program is an online web-based seminar. Participants will be required to have access to an Internet-connected PC and a regular telephone (long distance charges apply). ATC recommends using a $1.00 Looney Call at www.looneycall.com to keep long distance charges minimal. Technical requirements include:

»» Minimum technical requirements to attend the webinar using a PC:

. Required: Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, Netscape Navigator 6.0 or later or Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or later

. Required: Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro or 2003 Server, or Vista

. Required: Stable 56k, cable modem, ISDN, DSL or better Internet connection

. Recommended: Minimum of Pentium 400 with 256 MB of RAM

. Recommended: Java Virtual Machine enabled

»» Minimum technical requirements to attend the webinar using a Mac:

. Required: Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Panther) or newer

. Required: Safari 1.3 or newer, Firefox 1.5 or newer on PowerPC G3/G4/G5 or Firefox 1.5.0.2 or newer on Intel (JavaScript and Java enabled)

. Required: Stable 56 k, cable modem, ISDN, DSL or better Internet connection

. Required: Power PC G3/G4/G5 or Intel processor (G4 450 MHz with 256 MB of RAM)

As this is an interactive session between participants and the webinar leader, and to assure a fulfilling learning experience, space is limited to 25 participants per session. Please register early to assure confirmation in the session of your choice.

Webinar Leader - Bruce Bishins, CTC
One of the most accomplished technical trainers in the travel industry, Bruce Bishins has been a respected and well-known consultant to travel agencies for over 30 years. He has held positions at Air Canada, Swissair, Air France, and Austrian Airlines, and was Manager-Travel Industry Training at Trans World Airlines for nearly eight years. He developed and implemented the travel agency training program for PARS. In 1978, he was appointed by a joint airline task force to the position of Manager-Procedures Training for the Air Traffic Conference (the predecessor to the ARC Area Settlement Plan in the U.S.). In 1981, he joined the Airline Training Council as Executive Director. In 1991, while still at ATC, he was contracted by the International Air Transport Association to provide technical support and training for travel agents and air carriers participating in the IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP Canada). He managed the IATA/BSP and Air Canada agency training programs for nearly seven years.

How to Enroll
Please complete the above Online Webinar Registration form with all requested information. Tuition fees include only the cost of instruction. Conference call long distance charges are at the participants' own expense. Please enroll early to assure participation in the session of your choice and to avoid a CAD 30.00 late fee if enrolling after the published deadline.

Cancellations/Changes to Sessions
Tuition fees are non-refundable. Please consider carefully your intention to attend prior to enrollment. To discourage changes, a change fee of CAD 30.00 (plus applicable Canadian taxes) will be levied for changes to session dates after enrollment.

Session Confirmations
Approximately one week prior to the webinar session requested, a confirmation will be e-mailed to all enrolled and confirmed participants. If for any reason a participant has not received a confirmation at least one week prior to the webinar date, it will be the full responsibility of the participant to contact ATC by sending an e-mail by clicking here or calling ATC at 416-920-3242 immediately. As such, non-receipt of e-mail confirmation is not a valid reason for failure to attend.