2024 ASTA Legislative Day Recap!
Hey there! You might be surprised to run into a mostly blank blog post! No, I'm not taking minimalism too seriously . . . I'm just getting game-ready to hit up ASTA's Legislative Day, which (at the time of writing this) starts tomorrow!!!
You can come here to check out updates! I'll pop in to tell you day by day with event summaries, which issues advisors are bringing to the in 2024, what it's like to be a deer-in-headlights first-timer at Legislative Day, and how these issues translate for everyday advisors like YOU!
Spoiler alert! Most advisors are NOT here for their love of policy! They are here for their love of the industry. The good thing is our delegations are the trusty hands of ASTA who take the time to educate advisors on the issues, how to tie them to your personal story, and how to communicate those stories with Congress!
Here are shortcuts to summaries of events!
ASTA's 2024 Stats on the travel advisor
2024 Legislative Issues
- ACPAC Modernization Act (HR3780) - aka, giving advisors a voice on a committee that advises the Department of Transportation.
- Airline Ticket Refunds (HR9552) - aka, asking for a rule that allows agencies to refund air to clients after the airlines refund the agency (when the agency is the merchant on record).
Day 1 -Travel Industry Forecast at the National Press Club
- Introductory Speech (Zane Kerby)
- In an AI-dominated Landscape, Why Do You Still Need a Travel Advisor?
- Duty of Care: How Successful Businesses Use Managed Travel Programs
- Consumer Protections in the State of Air Travel Today
Day 2 - Beginners Training & Issues Training
* Coming soon!
Day 3 - Advocacy Day!
* Coming soon!
ASTA's 2024 Stats on the Travel Advisor
As you probably already know, I love data about travel advisors. ASTA's Legislative Day is a time to celebrate the growth of the travel advisor industry, and this year there is lots to celebrate.
The volume of advisors increased 20% over last year's numbers and they make up a larger piece of the pie when it comes to market share. With 115B in bookings in 2023 for the US expected to increase to 141.3 in 2026, this translates to a five-point anticipated increase in market share by 2026.
This is pretty important when it comes to the issues that bring advisors en masse to the hill! What were the issues ASTA raised during Legislative Day? Read on!
The Issues Facing Travel Advisors During Legislative Day
ASTA's advocacy chooses which issues advisors bring to the Hill, and they do all the heavy lifting in educating attendees about how to advocate when you walk through that potentially-intimidating forest of marble pillars into the Congressional Buildings.
For Legislative Day 2024, ASTA brought two issues in front of Congressional leaders. Here's a summary.
1. ACPAC Modernization Act (HR3780)
What the heck is an ACPAC? Yeah, I wondered about that too. ACPAC stands for "Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee." Wow, that's a mouthful!
Essentially what ACPAC does is advise the DOT (Department of Transportation) on, the rules to make relating to airline customers.
The ACPAC is cozy cozy group. There are four different industries represented on this committee:
- Airlines
- Airports
- Consumer groups
- State or local governments
But you know who's not included in ACPAC? Travel advisors. Well, ASTA thought that was a missed opportunity, because who knows the traveler consumer better than a travel advisor? No one. Who has the traveler consumer's best interest at heart? Travel advisors.
So yes, ASTA wants a seat at the table! And this makes sooooo much sense, because then there won't be rules that can potentially harm travel businesses and, in turn, their clients.
This brings me to issue number two.
Airline Ticket Refunds (HR9552)
Here's the barebones of the airline ticket refunds. In 2024, the DOT issued a ruling that required the "merchant of record" to issue refunds in the event of a traveler's canceled flight within seven days so they use the money for things like rent and groceries.
Fair enough! We all want travelers to get their well-deserved refunds.
BUT here's the sticking point: There are times when a travel agency is the merchant of record. This may happen on a group air booking (with other components!) or when a client purchases a ticket with cash out of hand. In these scenarios, the agency is the merchant of record. What does this mean? It means that the travel agency is expected to pay back the refund in seven days.
But you know who doesn't have that money? The travel agency. Why? Because they paid it to airline to get their clients' tickets! Now here's where the plot twist comes in (dun dun dun).
The rule doesn't specify when airlines must pay travel agencies back. Well how the heck is an agency supposed to front possibly tens of thousands dollars of cash if the airline hasn't reimbursed them? Probably they can't!
And that's why ASTA went to make a little noise on the Hill. To encourage our legislators to redefine the ruling to indicate an agency isn't expected to pay a refund to a client until they have been refunded by the airline.
Makes sense doesn't it?
That's just a summary. Below is a look at a full description of ASTA's legislative priorities in 2024.
Day 1 - Travel Industry Forecast at the National Press Club
First, let me say that going to the National Press Club is a pretty big deal in and of itself. It’s a great way to prime advisors on the ASTA’s Legislative Day initiatives for a big-picture industry look.
I’ll continue to flesh this out throughout the conference itself as I snag some time. But here’s a few highlights.
Introductory Speech - Zane Kerby President & CEO at ASTA
Zane Kerby kicked it off with some pretty juicy data-driven overview. Here’s a few takeaways:
- Advisor segment is growing:
- The travel advisors’ market share is expected to reach 26% by 2026 from 21% in 2022. What is this in dollars?
- In 2023 travel agencies made 115B in gross leisure bookings to 141.3B in 2026 (according to an ASTA and Phocuswright survey).
- Travelers are spending more and advisors are seeing increases in bookings:
- A family of 4 spends an average of $14,000 on a 7-day vacation.
- What does this mean for advisors? 60% have seen an increase in all-inclusives, 70% for ocean cruises, and 80% for river cruises. (This also reflects HAR’s most recent data where 80% of hosted advisors reported an increase in sales in 2023.)
Nothing like a great crop of data to kick off the event! Listen to the full introductory speech below!
IN AN AI-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE, WHY DO YOU STILL NEED A TRAVEL ADVISOR?
Panelists:
- [Moderator] Jackie Friedman VTA, CTIE, ASTA’s Board Chair and President of Nexion
- Wayne Muhlstein, Wayne Traveler, an affiliate of McCabe World Travel (Virtuoso)
- Julie Redfern, Avid Traveler and Client of Wayne
- Dr. Terika L. Haynes, DBA, MHA, FACHE, Founder & CEO, Dynamite Travel (Signature)
- Eboni N. Moss, Avid Traveler and Client of Terika
This panel discussion centered around the necessity of a travel advisor during an AI renaissance. It reminded me a lot of the decades-old conversation about OTA’s perceived threat to advisors.
Being a successful travel advisor isn't just about knowledge; it's about building client relationships based on trust, experience, and a strong network. Things AI simply can not provide.
So who better to hear about the value of travel advisors than the clients they serve? Eboni Moss had been a client of Dr. Terika L. Haynes since she started her agency, Dynamic Travel, 16 years ago.
When avid traveler Julie Redfern spoke about the value of working with Wayne to plan her travel over the years she said that advisors have “the knowledge providing an experience you never knew was possible.”
Eboni talked about how this wealth of knowledge is rooted in experience, “she’s been to places I want to go. She’s speaking from experience.”
But there’s so much more that AI can’t do. They can’t save a traveler endless time using AI to try and plan an itinerary; they can’t qualify destinations or products based on clients’ specific needs; they can’t get on a phone with a vendor who is dragging their feet on issuing a refund when something goes wrong.
Listen to the rest of what the panel had to say (it’s jam-packed with really great nuggets of wisdom!).
DUTY OF CARE: HOW SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES USE MANAGED TRAVEL PROGRAMS
Panelists
- [Moderator] Lee Thomas, ASTA’s Vice Chair and Strategic Advisor for Nous Travel
- Rita Visser, Director, Global Travel Sourcing & GPO for Oracle
- Steven Mandelbaum, Senior Vice President, Business Solutions at EAB
Okay, I'm not going to lie. A lot of this panel was over my head. It focused their conversation around NDC (New Distribution Capability). My wheelhouse is more in the realm of small leisure travel agencies or even some corporate agencies, but none that book air at the scale they were referring to in this panel.
The very short version is that when American Airlines (AA) rolled out their product on NDC, this created price disparity when they moved products from EDIFACT channels to NDC channels. This meant that not all advisors had access to the same fares.
In the kindest terms possible, AA's rollout was deeply flawed. And no, it's not just me saying this, AA also recognized their NDC roll-out tanked. AA's CEO is quoted in BTN saying, "We moved faster than we should have, and we didn't execute well, and we regret that and the difficulty that it created for our agency and corporate communities."
Fast-forward to today when AA's former CEO was replaced by Isom and they corrected course by moving their product back onto EDIFACT channels and restoring their reward programs.
Then fast-forward a little further to the panel! The discussion centered around the advantages and potential of NDC. Honestly, this probably doesn't affect most of HAR readers, but it does have a large impact on TMCs (Travel Management Companies) and corporate travel agencies!
But instead of butchering it, I'm going to post the full panel below! Enjoy!
CONSUMER PROTECTIONS IN THE STATE OF AIR TRAVEL TODAY
Panelists:
- Scott McCartney, Co-host of Airlines Confidential podcast and former travel editor and Middle Seat columnist, The Wall Street Journal
- John Breyault, Vice President, Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud, National Consumers League
Okay, so here's the dish. This panel got a little spicy, and I'll tell you why. Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued two final rules on ancillary fees and ticket refunds.
Frankly, advisors weren't too happy with these rules because they were vague to the point that agencies could be on the hook for massive ticket refunds to their client even if the airlines hadn't yet refunded the agency (read up on ACPAC Modernization Act here).
In short, ASTA is advocating for advisors to have a seat on ACPAC (Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee) so vague rules like these don't slip through the cracks and tank travel agencies who may be subjected to their enforcement.
The twist is that ACPAC doesn't want any more industries represented on their panel. They don't want it to get too big. But helllllo? Who is the best advocate for the traveling consumer? Advisors! Who's businesses rely on keeping traveling consumers happy? Advisors!
So, the convo got a little heated with some respectful pushback by Zane Kerby of ASTA and other audience participants (watch all the way to the Q&A at the end). It was a great primer to get advocates primed for ASTA's Legislative Day!
Phew! Wow. That was something, right! Loooot's on the docket.
ASTA is good at keeping this fun. You have to know how to make it fun when you're a trade association for travel advisors, who are essentially experts in having a good time. Work hard, play hard! Am I right?
Day 2 - Beginners Training & Issues Training
If you’re anything like me, the very thought of going to the Hill to chat with staffers on important issues is intimidating. (In my case, SUPER intimidating.)
I have an open secret to tell you. 99.9% of first-time advisor attendees at ASTA’s Legislative Day aren’t there for their love of politics. They are there for their love of the industry!
Buuuuut this comes with a caveat. You may actually begin to appreciate the politics behind change that can drive and uplift the industry. In fact, I loved ASTA’s Advocacy Day so much, that I’m writing another blog to 10 reasons to attend! (Stay tuned!)
And I’m not alone in this sentiment. As first-time attendee and advisor Katie Dillabough said, “ASTA Legislative Day has always been an event that has been in the back of my mind. I was grateful for the opportunity to attend this year. And WOW! So much more than I expected.”
Why the quick turnaround from hesitation to rapt enthusiasm? Because ASTA’s set you up to succeed! Here’s a brief look at what you can expect from ASTA’s Beginners Training and Issues.
1. Capitol Hill 101
Advocacy training kicked off with David Lusk, Founder & CEO of Key Advocacy. Here Lusk offered a big-picture look at effective advocacy, focusing on the importance of your personal stories and how they are the best tool to effect real change.
The staffers we meet with on the Hill care about more than facts. Rather, what will inspire them toward action is to share your personal story. The real-life everyday experiences that drive these facts.
And speaking of facts, Lusk shared data from the Congressional Management Foundation indicating that “meetings between staff and constituents” is the most important factor in understanding constituent views and opinions. You can see for yourself below!
I can’t possibly summarize David's full prezzie and sadly, it’s not made public like the press conference. Suffice it to say, he emphasized the power of your personal story and the importance of preparing so your lawmakers and their staffers are inspired toward action.
Lusk ended his speech by saying, “Remember that no one can tell your story like you can, and it's your responsibility to do so. Tell it with pride … Tell the story of our industry, but tell that story because you owe it to everyone and everything that brought you here to this very moment.”
Day 3 - Advocacy Day!
