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Lufthansa’s fee claim ‘ludicrous’ says agent chief
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
Lufthansa imposed an £11.30 charge on all GDS bookings from Tuesday and declared: “We want to work with travel agents.”
But a leading agency
representative dismissed the carrier’s claim as “ludicrous”. The airline introduced its Distribution Cost Charge (DCC) through the Iata BSP payment system as promised on September 1, with the fee – set at €16 – added among taxes, fees and charges.
The charge applies to all GDS bookings on Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines as well as Lufthansa. Agents can avoid the fee only by booking direct. Lufthansa hailed the charge as
“a major milestone . . . ensuring the costs of bookings made via GDSs are met more fairly and transparently by the users involved”. The carrier claimed it had seen
“broad interest in alternative distribution channels” and said: “Efforts to establish ‘direct connect’ booking channels are generating strong interest among industry partners.”
Jens Bischof: ‘We want to work with agents’
Chief commercial officer Jens Bischof said: “We want to work together with travel agents and the global distribution systems to make the sale of air tickets more up to date, more inexpensive and more customer-minded.” Ken McLeod, corporate director
at Advantage Travel Partnership, hit back saying: “Clearly something has been lost in the translation. “For Lufthansa to say they are
trying to make it more inexpensive by adding a €16 charge is ludicrous.” He added: “I’m sure they want to work with travel agents, as without us they could lose 70% of their business.” McLeod suggested Lufthansa
would be studying its booking figures “on an hourly basis” in the coming days. About 70% of Lufthansa fares
are currently booked via GDS. › Talk Back, page 17
5 Norwegian shifts focus to long-haul
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
Norwegian Air Shuttle has declared long-haul flights its “main focus” and London its core market.
The no-frills carrier, which
has grown rapidly on short-haul routes since 2009, began flights to the US from Gatwick last July with a single daily service. However, in an exclusive
inteview with Travel Weekly, chief executive Bjorn Kjos said: “Our
main focus – our main strategy – will be long-haul. Short-haul will be more of an add-on.” Kjos claimed high load-factors
on its US flights from Gatwick persuaded him to switch focus. He said: “It’s going better than anticipated. We had to succeed on London. It’s the major destination in Europe. It’s a huge market [and] Gatwick is perfect because there is a lot of feeder traffic.” As a consequence, he said: “You
will see more short-haul [services] into Gatwick, [but] the growth of short-haul will supplement
6
travelweekly.co.uk 3 September 2015
“Our main strategy will be long-haul. Short-haul will be more of an add-on”
long-haul. That is not how we set it up, but now we’re looking at how to organise feeder traffic.” The carrier bases two of its eight
Boeing Dreamliners at Gatwick and will add two more next spring when it begins services to Boston. But Kjos also aims to offer US
flights from smaller UK airports from 2017 using the Boeing 737 Max, of which he has ordered 100. “Gatwick will be very important
for us, [but] the 737 Max will open transatlantic services from smaller cities, such as Birmingham-New York, Birmingham-Boston and Edinburgh-Boston,” he said. “We will definitely start flying to the US East Coast.” Norwegian launched its long-haul services with a single cabin. Now it offers premium economy and fares
inclusive of meals and drinks. › Bjorn Kjos: Face to Face, page 14
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