American
Airlines notified agencies on Wednesday that it would levy booking fees for
non-U.S. and non-Caribbean Travelport subscribers, claiming the global
distribution company on Dec. 20 will "dramatically" increase booking
fees to the airline "in many international points of sale."
The
fees, which will be billed in U.S. dollars, vary by country and channel, but
could range from $3.75 per segment for a Worldspan booking in India to more
than $18 for a Galileo segment booked in Portugal. American described the
premium as "being applied to bring American's cost for bookings through
the Travelport GDSs back in line with the costs of other GDSs in these
countries." A Travelport official could not immediately comment.
"Owing
primarily to dramatic booking fee increases very recently notified to American
by Travelport for bookings made in markets outside the United States using the
GDSs owned and operated by Travelport—these being Galileo and Worldspan—these
GDSs have become significantly more expensive to American than all other
booking platforms in the affected international markets," American vice
president of sales Derek DeCross wrote in a letter dated Nov. 17.
AA
plans to assess the fees by debit memo, beginning in February next year for all
bookings made on or after Dec. 20. AA indicated that other distribution
platforms, including Amadeus, Sabre and its own direct connect, "will not
generate" such a fee.