CTC Professional Ethics & Compliance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A travel consultant discovers that a preferred supplier is offering kickbacks in exchange for exclusive bookings. What is the ethical obligation?
- Accept only if disclosed to clients
- Report the arrangement and decline the kickback (Correct answer)
- Accept without disclosure since it benefits sales volume
- Negotiate a higher kickback before agreeing
Correct answer: Report the arrangement and decline the kickback
Accepting undisclosed kickbacks violates fiduciary duty and professional ethics codes; consultants must decline and report such arrangements.
Question 2: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a CTC must ensure that travel arrangements accommodate clients with disabilities by:
- Charging a premium for accessible accommodations
- Making reasonable efforts to identify accessible options and inform clients of limitations (Correct answer)
- Refusing bookings if accessible options are unavailable
- Delegating all accessibility concerns to the supplier
Correct answer: Making reasonable efforts to identify accessible options and inform clients of limitations
CTCs are ethically and legally required to make reasonable efforts to find accessible options and transparently communicate any limitations to clients with disabilities.
Question 3: A client asks a CTC to book travel that the consultant suspects may involve illegal activity. The correct response is to:
- Proceed with the booking since proving intent is not the agent's role
- Decline the booking and report concerns to appropriate authorities if warranted (Correct answer)
- Ask the client to sign a liability waiver before booking
- Complete the booking but document the suspicion internally
Correct answer: Decline the booking and report concerns to appropriate authorities if warranted
Knowingly facilitating illegal travel exposes the consultant and agency to legal liability; refusal and reporting when warranted is the ethical standard.
Question 4: The ASTA Code of Ethics requires members to resolve disputes with clients through:
- Mandatory arbitration before any refund is issued
- Good faith negotiation and, if needed, formal mediation processes (Correct answer)
- Referring all disputes to the supplier without agent involvement
- Requiring clients to file in small claims court first
Correct answer: Good faith negotiation and, if needed, formal mediation processes
ASTA's Code of Ethics calls for good faith resolution efforts including negotiation and mediation rather than adversarial approaches.
Question 5: When a CTC receives a familiarization (FAM) trip from a supplier, the ethical requirement is to:
- Book exclusively with that supplier for six months as a courtesy
- Use the experience to inform recommendations but not feel obligated to favor that supplier (Correct answer)
- Disclose the FAM trip to all clients before recommending that supplier
- Decline all FAM trips to avoid any appearance of bias
Correct answer: Use the experience to inform recommendations but not feel obligated to favor that supplier
FAM trips are an accepted industry practice for education, but consultants must ensure recommendations are based on client suitability, not supplier gratitude.
Question 6: A CTC is asked by a colleague to use their login credentials to access a booking system when the colleague is unavailable. The consultant should:
- Comply as a professional courtesy since it benefits the client
- Refuse, as sharing login credentials violates security policies and accountability standards (Correct answer)
- Agree only if the supervisor verbally approves
- Use the credentials but log the action in a personal record
Correct answer: Refuse, as sharing login credentials violates security policies and accountability standards
Sharing login credentials undermines individual accountability, violates most system security policies, and can expose the agency to liability.
Question 7: Under CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), a travel agency operating in California must do which of the following when a client requests deletion of their personal data?
- Delete the data only after the client's most recent trip is completed
- Honor the deletion request within 45 days subject to limited legal exceptions (Correct answer)
- Retain all data for a minimum of seven years regardless of client requests
- Require the client to submit a notarized deletion request form
Correct answer: Honor the deletion request within 45 days subject to limited legal exceptions
CCPA grants California consumers the right to request deletion of their personal data, and businesses must comply within 45 days with limited exceptions.
CTC Professional Ethics & Compliance 2
A travel consultant discovers that a preferred supplier is offering kickbacks in exchange for exclusive bookings.
What is the ethical obligation?