Lufthansa and subsidiaries Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines will charge the €16 fee on GdS bookings from September 1. The decision will mainly affect business travel, but the airline also has a small amount of UK long-haul sales via frankfurt and Munich.
The consortium said that the Advantage focus Partnership, which has 66 agent members, had written to Lufthansa Group informing that they had imposed restrictions with “immediate effect... on training, fam trips, marketing, account manager sales calls and similar activities”.
It came as others in the trade warned that agents were also considering switch-selling from next Tuesday. The airline was due to meet with the Scottish Passenger Agent’s Association in Glasgow to discuss the issue today (August 26).
Meanwhile, a legal advisor for Ectaa, the umbrella group of European Union travel agents and tour operator associations, confirmed it was set to meet with the European Commission in September, after filing a complaint against Lufthansa in July.
Ken McLeod, business travel director at Advantage, said there had been no switching by members so far, but warned:
“It could be very different after September 1.”
It is illegal for organisations such as Advantage to instruct members to switch-sell, but experts have said Lufthansa is certain to face a backlash.
McLeod said three-quarters of Lufthansa’s business with Advantage was within Europe and that it was 8% of the consortium’s total BSP revenue.
Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, said some agents had already cancelled marketing promotions with the German carrier.
“They’ve said they don’t think it’s appropriate that they go ahead with it, as what Lufthansa is doing will affect their bottom line.”
He added that there was also mounting concern about whether other airlines would follow Lufthansa’s move. “There is a great deal of fear that if they get away with it, others will follow them.
“If Lufthansa doesn’t see any fall in sales, of course the other airlines will want to follow suit.”
It was an interesting move from Advantage yesterday. Advantage is unhappy about the airline’s €16 tax on GDS bookings, as is the rest of the trade, and has gone as far as it legally can in leading a boycott – anything more is a breach of EU competition law.
It will take more than this, of course, to make the airline change its mind. What might have prompted a change of heart would be some concessions from the GDSs over fees, but with the bank holiday fast approaching, nothing has emerged and it looks like the industry is set to be shaken up from Tuesday when Lufthansa goes ahead.
