exactly. I can't book in GDS without a credit card number... and I have no idea what a 1099 contractor is either. If you are willing to put your name, date of birth and credit card into expedia or United.com to issue an airline ticket I don't think the safeguards there are any better or worse than what used to store info in a GDS system or with a top tier agency like the one DavidO works with for example.
1099 contractor is probably more of a USA reference. It refers to someone who is an independent contractor of a company. W2 would be issued to someone who is considered an employee...
One question I have is how is the credit card information stored locally by an agent. I understand that they probably input it into the GDS when a reservation is made, but how does the agent keep that information.. or is it stored in the GDS as a profile for each client?
FDW