Amadeus fires broadside at Lufthansa Group over GDS move

Amadeus has criticised Lufthansa Group’s decision to develop a new booking method to enable sales partners to connect their networks directly to the airline’s booking engine, based on the new IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC).

Lufthansa.
Lufthansa.
The airline group also plans to introduce a surcharge for passengers booking tickets with the company’s various subsidiaries via online channels that involve GDS providers.

An EU16 (£11.60) surcharge will also apply when customers book tickets with Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss’ via their respective websites.

Jens Bischof, member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board and chief commercial officer (CCO) of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “Until now, the percentage of revenue generated from the sale of flight tickets by our airlines has continuously decreased. While other service and system partners in the value chain are recording increasing margins and returns, our airline’s earnings have been compromised over time, even though they are the actual providers of flight services. We want to counteract this trend by refocusing our commercial strategy.”

“At present, airlines are not yet able to market their services via all sales channels, as it is common in other industries,” said Bischof. “The contracts and structures have previously prevented any deregulation in many areas. We want to change this with our new commercial strategy and take advantage of greater degrees of freedom in our sales activities, providing our customers with the exact tailor-made services that they are looking for and wherever they are looking for them.”

In a statement, Amadeus launched a thinly-veiled attack on the airline group, criticising it for going “in a different direction by introducing charges that will penalise travellers based on the shopping channel they use”.

“Amadeus believes that the traveller is at the heart of the travel industry. Travellers today are looking for consistency, transparency and choice across all channels and we as an industry can deliver that best by connecting and integrating all players,” the statement read.

“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 agent, 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.”

The company did, however, adopt a conciliatory tone, adding that it remained “open to working with all its partners and customers to serve the best interests of the traveller and the industry”.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com