British Airways and Amadeus today officially announced that they have signed a three-year distribution agreement to provide the carrier's airfares and inventory to the global distribution system's subscribers. Amadeus subscribers in the United Kingdom and Ireland must pay fees from £0.50 to £1 per segment, based on fare class, to be shielded from BA's £3 per-segment surcharges for "full content."
Amadeus is the last of the four major GDSs to sign a new contract with BA, and its opt-in program for travel buyers follows the same form as its competitors, charging subscribers £0.50 per premium class fare segments and £1.00 per economy class segments.
BA's new GDS charges of £3 per segment went live April 10. As it worked toward a new deal with the airline, Amadeus said it shielded subscribers from the BA surcharges.
Many travel management companies, including American Express and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, are passing to corporate clients the opt-in charges imposed on them by GDSs for booking British Airways tickets in the U.K. and Ireland. HRG, however, has said it will not pass to clients those expenses incurred as result of the distribution shakeup
(BTN, April 23).