Sabre and Lufthansa today announced a four-year global distribution agreement, effective July 1, extending an arrangement reached in May 2008 and set to expire June 30, through which Sabre subscribers were shielded from the carrier's Preferred Fares surcharge.
Sabre said protection from the €4.90 surcharge comes at the expense of a €1 per-segment Efficiency Plus opt-in fee for GDS subscribers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland—similar in structure to opt-in fees levied through Sabre's Efficient Access Program for GDS subscribers in the United States.
Lufthansa's Preferred Fares Program imposes a €4.90 per-way surcharge, in addition to value-added tax, on fares booked through the global distribution systems in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. Sabre and Travelport have negotiated for their subscribers to be shielded from the fee, though Amadeus subscribers continue to be subject to it. Travelport GDS last year signed an agreement with Lufthansa, effective July 2008, offering "full content" to subscribers and a waiving of the surcharge through 2011.
Greg Webb, Sabre Travel Network chief marketing officer, today told
BTN the deal with Lufthansa is similar to "full content" arrangements in place with other carriers.
"The one thing that's different about the Lufthansa deal is they have had this Preferred Fares program in place for a while now in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Lichtenstein," Webb said. "Because that was in place and there was a surcharge in the market, what we've put in place is a program—the Sabre Efficiency Plus program—that allows agencies in those markets to opt in to our program, which gives them access to the Lufthansa Preferred Fares."
Webb said the agreement with Lufthansa does not extend to its Swiss subsidiary, which operates a similar program by charging 8 Swiss francs per segment for preferred fare bookings in those markets.
Webb said talks continue with the subsidiary to extend a long-term agreement, though for now Sabre subscribers are shielded from the surcharge. Sabre last summer signed a four-year deal with Air France, while British Airways is the next major European carrier coming up for renewal in the next 12 to 18 months.
Amadeus last month said it had yet to come to terms with Lufthansa to shield its subscribers from the Preferred Fares Program surcharge, and a representative said the GDS—dominant in Lufthansa's home market—stands to lose "significant" marketshare in Germany as a result
(BTNonline, April 3).