To all my Valued Accounts

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As you may, or may not know, all US and Canadian airlines have reduced their reimbursements to US & Canadian agencies to zero. This represents a massive decrease in our source of income. In order to stay in business I have to inform you that our fee structure and schedule will change effective 11 SEP 2006.

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The Travel Agency community regards this drop of agency commissions as an insult to the relationship we have between ourselves and the airlines concerned. They have shifted the burden of payment for their services onto the traveling public and corporations, whatever size. This has to be seen as an indirect fare increase by the general public.

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From this point, we do not work for the airlines; we work for YOU, our Customer. We intend to become very pro active in becoming a voice protecting your rights as a traveler. We promise to help you enforce your rights and expectations of service from whatever source of transportation you choose to take. In return, we ask that you keep a note of names and situations in which you received poor service and / or lack of transportation.

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We will introduce a lawyer-style fee of service with a time card system backed up by "trax-time" software. This will enable you to departmentalize billing increments, so you may effectively understand what you are paying for and on what trip. Each week as the service fees are assessed, you will also be presented with a statement of account and the savings enjoyed over that time period. We feel this to be fair as tickets which take 2 minutes to create and issue should not incur the same amount of charge as, for example, an in depth round the world trip.

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FedEx and courier charges are a large expense. All airline tickets will be issued as electronic tickets wherever possible. When paper tickets are required then they will be sent via registered means. The customer will be responsible for paying this heavily reduced rate.

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Please feel free to contact me with questions and concerns you may have regarding the new payment schedule. As always you can be assured of:

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• My personal attention.

• 24/7 services offered for emergency situations.

• Extended office hours from 830am to 600pm every working day.

• Bulk and contracted fares to a wide variety of Domestic and International destinations.

• The most up to date reservations system (SABRE) with enhancements constantly being developed, to make this process as easy as possible.

• Benefits of Vacation.com and Austin Associates Membership regarding airfares, hotels, cars tours and cruise.

 

Many thanks for your continued support.

 

Sincerely,

 

Stuart J. Rice.

 

Fee Schedule effective 01 APR 08.

 

Minimum Service Charge per Invoice

$20.00

 

Service Charge

$100 per hour billed in 1 minute increments

 

Out of Hours Emergency

Call $200 plus applicable service charges

 

International Paper Tickets

Additional cost of delivery per Customer’s choice in addition to airline imposed fees.