Amadeus, Sabre To Offset AA Booking Fees

Amadeus and Sabre—the two GDSs that have yet to sign deals with American Airlines—this week introduced programs that fully or partially offset the $3.50 fee the carrier will implement on bookings that go through nonpreferred channels, beginning Sept. 1.

Following a U.S. district court rejection of Amadeus' attempt to bar American Airlines from imposing the $3.50 fee, the GDS said that beginning Sept. 1 it would reimburse the charge to its subscribers. "Also, at this time, Amadeus does not anticipate any impact to agency incentives related to this interim relief measure," the GDS said in a statement. "Amadeus is finalizing the details of how this relief measure will be implemented. Next week, Amadeus sales representatives will be contacting their customers with this additional information and specifics."

Meanwhile, Sabre Travel Network this week sent a memo to agency subscribers outlining its program that incentivizes bookings on carriers with which it has signed new content deals, while offsetting—to a degree—fees that American would charge in the event that no new agreement is reached by the Sept. 1 deadline.

Sabre senior vice president of North America Chris Kroeger in a memo outlined the "promotional bonus" for agencies that opt in to the Efficient Access Solution program.

"In essence, Sabre will make up the gap between the $3.50 AA service fee and the Sabre booking incentive you earn on AA segments. We will do this by paying a promotional bonus on EAS carrier bookings (this is in addition to the booking incentive you would earn on the EAS carrier segments under the EAS program)."

One agency source said Sabre would pay the difference between the agency's incentive and the $3.50 fee. "The promotion does not make us whole on American bookings," the source said. In fact, to maximize such incentives, agents must shift share away from American and to such EAS carriers as AirTran, Alaska, Continental, Delta, Northwest, US Air and United, agency sources said. Sabre would not comment on the details promotional offering.

"The EAS promotional bonus will be set at an amount so that, based on your historical booking mix, the bonuses will combine with the incentives you earn on AA bookings to fully offset the $3.50 service fees-leaving you in a zero net pay situation for AA bookings," the memo said.

According to Kroeger's memo, "To receive this promotional bonus, all you have to do is continue making your historical level of bookings through the Sabre system and be in compliance with the booking share commitment of your Sabre agreement. Note that shifting AA bookings to any other booking source, including a Web site or other distribution system, will result in being ineligible for this promotion. And, of course, you must be in compliance with the booking share commitment in your Sabre agreement in order to receive your contractual incentives on any Sabre bookings per the terms of the agreement."

Whether the offers made by the GDSs go into effect hinge on whether the GDSs strike new terms with American in the next week. "We are encouraged by Sabre's offer and our belief that American and Sabre are resuming discussions," said CWT executive vice president Mike Koetting. "We think that's the case and we are pleased to hear that. CWT is continuing its discussions with both parties, as well as all GDSs and carriers, and we will continue to discuss the issue with our clients."