The American Society of Travel Agents said it was poised to
sue Travelport if the global distribution system company did not decide to waive fees that Travelport originally intended to levy on agency subscribers on
Jan. 1.
As part of Agility, a new program that unbundles GDS
services, Travelport had planned to charge agencies a fee to use some products,
such as its Rooms and More hotel-booking tool.
Travel agents objected, claiming that charging fees for
services that are essential to using a GDS is a contract violation.
Before the first of the year, Travelport backpedaled, opting
to rebundle existing services for the duration of agencies' GDS contracts.
"Many of ASTA's members wanted ASTA to initiate legal
action against Travelport, and while ASTA was prepared to do that, it appears
to be unnecessary as the rescission action respects agents' rights in their
existing contracts while giving them the opportunity, if interested, to get
potential added value from new features contained in Agility," ASTA said
in a statement.
"When those contracts expire, the question of whether
and how Agility will apply will be a matter of commercial negotiation between
Travelport and its subscribers," the statement said.
Source: Travel Weekly