Lufthansa’s new charge for GDS bookings ‘a huge concern’ for agents
Champa Magesh, the new UK and Ireland managing director of Amadeus, has warned that Lufthansa’s plan to charge a levy for GDS bookings is ‘a huge cause for concern’.
Even though the €16 per ticket fee will be introduced on September 1, Magesh said there were still a lot of unanswered questions about how it will work.
"What has surprised us is that there are only two and a half months left (before the fee is introduced) and there are many questions and not enough details from Lufthansa," she said.
"How will the fee be applied, will it be included in the fare? We just don’t know the answers to these sorts of questions."
Lufthansa announced in June that it would charge €16 for every ticket booked via a GDS. The fee will also apply to bookings made on Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines from September 1.
Lufthansa has told TravelMole the fee will be collected and billed as an OB fee, which already exists in the system to cover fees such as credit card payments. A spokesman said the €16 fee would be added to the total ticket price and charged directly to the ticket purchaser.
Agents and travel management companies can avoid the fee by booking direct on the Lufthansa website www.LH.com
Magesh said Lufthansa hadn’t discussed the move with Amadeus, leading her to believe that it wasn’t purely a commercial decision. "This is about Lufthansa gaining control of the end customer.
"It is very clear that Lufthansa doesn’t intend to back down, clearly it is going to happen in September, but we have no other details."
She said Amadeus was not in dialogue with Lufthansa regarding its proposed fee. She said no other airlines had suggested to Amadeus they were planning to do the same, despite indications from global airline body IATA that some might follow Lufthansa’s lead.
"GDS is the most cost-efficient way of providing airline distribution," added Magesh. "but we are particularly keen to understand what our customers want and act accordingly."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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