British Airways and Galileo today announced a three-year content agreement, through which BA will distribute "fares and inventory" to the global distribution system's subscribers enrolled in its opt-in program. The parties said the agreement goes live on April 10.
BA head of marketing and distribution Tiffany Hall in a statement said the carrier continues to work toward agreements with the other GDSs, including Amadeus, Sabre and Worldspan. BA executive vice president of the Americas Robin Hayes today told
BTN that the carrier began paying GDS rack rates when content deals with the GDSs expired late last month. BA has yet to surcharge customers, but if deals aren't struck by April 10 a surcharge is likely for those in the U.K. "At the moment, we haven't passed through the cost," Hayes said. "We have said in the U.K. that from April 10, if agents haven't signed up, there will be a surcharge." In regard to surcharge and content implications in the United States, Hayes said, "We're still reviewing those options."
Galileo would only say about its opt-in program that it "offers travel agents in the U.K. and Ireland the opportunity to access all of British Airways' fare content that is made publicly available through the airline's sales channels, including ba.com." Galileo noted that the program is the continuation of an agency opt-in program launched in 2004. "More details of the program will be made available from Galileo in due course," Galileo said in a statement. Hayes said the opt-in program likely would follow the model launched in the United States last year. Hayes said, "Agents that elect to opt in are guaranteed content. The pricing arrangements that exist whether they opt in or not are really between subscribers and Galileo."
The carrier's distribution contracts expired late last month without service interruption or BA immediately pursuing a substantially new course, as some in the industry had feared
(BTN, March 5). The outcome of BA's GDS negotiations has been considered an important indicator of how relations between other European carriers and GDSs will develop following last year's overhaul of the distribution model in the United States.
Although Galileo parent Travelport last year agreed to acquire Worldspan, BA is seeking deals with both GDSs, as the acquisition has yet to close and integration has not commenced, Hayes noted. "I'm confident that we will get deals with at least two or three of the GDSs fairly quickly," Hayes said. "I'm hopeful that we'll get another one concluded soon."