BRITISH Airways plans to
further restrict the fares it
makes available through
the GDS, chief executive,
Willie Walsh, announced
at the Guild of Travel
Management Companies’
conference in Ireland last
month.
“We want the cheapest cost
of distribution,” he said. “We’ll
provide relevant fares through
the GDS, but we’re not going
to make all fares available. A
lot of transactions are simple,
point-to-point and chosen on
price. Customers don’t need
an intermediary to do it.”
The airline hasn’t offered
further detail on which
fares will be withdrawn. BA
spokesman, Jim Blaney, told
TNW that the airline did not
comment on specific future
changes to fare distribution.
“Our general position is clear,
we cannot afford to distribute
these low fares through the
GDS at the level that we can
distribute them on our direct
platforms and to agents and
TMCs via the NDC.”
Lufthansa Group has
also introduced ‘NDC Best
fares’, which are the carrier’s
cheapest fares from London,
Manchester and Dublin to
its respective hub airports
and are not available on
the GDS. These are £28.30
(R500) cheaper than fares
on the same routes in the
GDS. Travel agents will only
be able to access the fares
by implementing an NDC API
with the Lufthansa system,
registering with the group’s
SPRK platform, or booking
online.
Rachael Penaluna, business
manager at Sure Maritime
Travel, said airlines were
“shooting themselves in the
foot” by taking this approach.
“Far from being unnecessary,
having an intermediary is
a huge asset to an airline.
Agents provide a level of
customer service and support
that airlines are largely unable
to,” says Rachael.
She adds that booking BA
fares direct does not yet allow
agents to manage client travel
in the same way the GDS
does. “There is an admin
fee for every change made,
while on the GDS there are no
additional airline admin fees.
If there is a flight change and
you have booked direct, it is
challenging to get information
from the airline regarding
suitable alternatives – a
process that is automated on
the GDS.”
