Amadeus on Feb. 1 will stop absorbing Lufthansa's surcharge on Preferred Fare bookings in Germany and Austria unless the global distribution system and airline can reach accord on a new distribution agreement.
Lufthansa last year announced plans to impose a €4.90 per-way surcharge plus value-added tax on fares booked through GDSs in Germany and Austria on July 1, 2008, and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein on Oct. 1, 2008,
(BTNonline, Jan. 22, 2008). Amadeus competitors Travelport and Sabre since have come to new terms with Lufthansa to shield its subscribers from the surcharge, while Amadeus has yet to reach an agreement, opting instead to absorb the fees on their customers' behalf.
Amadeus in November extended by one month its fee shield in Germany and Austria to Jan. 31, 2009, and in Switzerland until March 31. "That remains our current intention," the GDS said in a statement today.
"Reimbursement was always intended to be a temporary, interim measure to protect our customers as discussions continued with Lufthansa," Amadeus said in a statement today, noting that the GDS "continues to exert every effort to achieve a long-term solution with Lufthansa and we are confident that one can be found. We will update our agency customers and the marketplace at the earliest opportunity of any major developments in this situation."