BRITISH Airways and
Iberia have followed
Lufthansa’s lead and
will charge travel agents a
surcharge on bookings made
through the GDS.
From November 1, the
airlines will apply a charge
of GBP£8 (R134) per fare
component to any bookings
which are not made using
an NDC-based connection,
or through other “low-cost
channels”, such as their
websites, airline sales offices
and call-centres.
Lufthansa, which was the
first airline to introduce a
fee on GDS bookings in
September 2015, charges €16
(R233) for every ticket issued
(see TNW June 17, 2015).
A final decision on
BA-marketed fares flown wholly
on Comair is still pending and
will be communicated in due
course.
BA and Iberia told TNW that
the decision to charge the
fee is a result of the airlines
“changing their business
model as travel distribution
has changed rapidly in recent
years,” the airlines also said
the charge recovers the
expenses incurred through
“higher cost channels”.
According to the
spokesperson, the charges
won’t be incurred on:
direct NDC connection
platforms,
aggregators or self-booking
tools connected via NDC,
other travel intermediaries,
(including GDSs) that adopt
NDC-based connections
and an IAG booking portal
for travel agencies and
corporations, which is due to
be ready shortly.
Although SA travel agents
agree it’s unfortunate
the charge will fall on the
consumer, their Lufthansa
experience has proven
it’s better to roll with the
punches. Mary Shilletto, ceo
of Thompsons Travel, expects
other airlines to follow suit and
says “provided you give the
client consistent service and
good product, the client will
accept the charge”.
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of
XL Travel, agrees and says
“The initial reaction will
be disappointment in the
airlines but people in the
travel industry are a tough,
industrious bunch so I don’t
foresee this affecting business
to any great degree.”
Ceo of Asata, Otto de Vries,
says the charge is another
hidden cost passed on to the
consumer and makes fare
transparency and comparison
shopping more difficult. “In
fact, there is no comparison
shopping possible when the
consumer goes on the BA
website,” he says.
Amadeus issued a statement
saying that it strongly believes
indirect distribution remains
the most cost-efficient solution
for all parties. “Within the
context of NDC, our vision is to
develop an integrated solution
that can be widely adopted by
travel agencies and airlines to
deliver sustainable results,”
the statement reads.
Gm of Travelport South
Africa, Robyn Christie, says
travellers will be penalized
both through this surcharge
and the potential introduction
of less efficient working
practices.
“We remain engaged with
BA and Iberia to work on
mechanisms to connect with
travel agencies and travellers,
including the integration into
our system of their content
through their API,” she says.
A spokesperson for Sabre
said the surcharge imposes
costs and inconvenience for
those using the GDS channel.
“Sabre will continue to seek
an agreement that delivers
value and meets the revenue
needs of the IAG airlines;
and the choice, transparency
and convenience demanded
by travel agencies and
consumers.”
Iata said it could not
comment on the business
models of airlines, but did
say “the NDC is a technical
standard, not a business
model. In fact, the NDC
standard is business-model
agnostic; it can ‘plug-in’ to any
distribution strategy, whether it
involves the use of a content
aggregator (the role played by
GDSs) or not”.
