IATA said the industry will have to wait-and-see if the Lufthansa Group (LHG)’s move to impose a surcharge on all bookings made through intermediaries, effective September, is going to be a standard airline practice. GDSs meanwhile have lashed out that the model penalises both travel agencies and consumers.
“It’s a response to the issue that Lufthansa and many other airlines have that the distribution cost in this industry is very high and they are seeking to incentivise their customers to use channels which save them money. That seems to be the perfectly-rational thing to do. Whether they’ll be successful, or whether the other airlines will follow their example, we’ll have to wait and see,” said IATA director-general and CEO, Tony Tyler, when asked for his views on the fee at a media roundtable in Singapore.
Although other airlines are not jumping yet to follow suit, GDSs are up in arms over the fee.
Amadeus, in assessing the impact, said: “LHG has chosen to go in a different direction by introducing charges that will penalise travellers based on the shopping channel they use. Travellers will either pay more for the same service or, in the case that travel agencies are forced to accept this new commercial strategy by modifying the way they access content just for LHG, there will be extra IT costs that may ultimately be passed on to the traveller, putting the travel agency, and/or the end consumer, at a disadvantage.
“Also, this new model will make comparison and transparency more difficult because travellers will now be forced to go to multiple channels to search for the best fares. Ultimately, the industry overall stands to lose from this distribution model.”
Travelport’s spokesman said: “This proposed surcharge is not in the interests of either the end-traveller or the airline group.”
LHG’s 16 euro (US$18) surcharge on all bookings made through intermediaries applies to bookings on all airlines in the group, including Brussels Airlines and Germanwings.
