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‘BA’s £8 GDS fee adversely affects Scottish agents’


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


British Airways’ £8 booking fee on GDS sales is hitting independent Scottish agents harder than those south of the border, according to the Scottish Passengers’ Agents Association.


President Ken McLeod said the


fee had a “disporportionate effect” on Scottish agents who booked a higher proportion of BA flights, including many domestic routes. BA introduced the ‘per sector’ fee last November, following rival


Lufthansa, which introduced a €16 charge in 2015. BA has since struck fee-waiver agreements with some of the larger travel management companies (TMCs). Speaking ahead of the Scottish


Passenger Agents’ Association’s 88th annual dinner next week, Ken McLeod said: “There’s a disproportionate effect for Scottish agents [using a GDS] because of the vast amount of domestic traffic they book in relation to total turnover.” He said this was hurting small


agents more and playing to the advantage of large TMCs that have struck deals with BA. The airline


Ken McLeod: ‘Scottish agents are more disadvantaged’


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operates more than 40 daily flights each way from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London airports. McLeod, who is also director of industry affairs at The Advantage Travel Partnership, said Scottish agents typically book clients to London for business and long-haul connections and that fees “hit harder” on domestic routes as they represent a larger proportion of the cost of the fare. “If 50% of your bookings incur an £8 fee, you are really disadvantaged,” he said. “For the


big guys [with GDS agreements], the percentage of business being charged on will be less than 1%. “We are not saying they should


get preferential treatment, but Scottish agents are disadvantaged. BA forgets small agencies provide a huge amount of business; it’s their bread and butter.” BA said the fee covers the higher costs it faces selling via GDS rather than direct and said other options incur no charge, such as a booking portal for agents “which is due to be ready shortly”.


5 ‘PTD could force up holiday prices’


Lee Hayhurst lee.hayhurst@travelweekly.co.uk


New package regulations coming into force in July will provide greater protection for consumers but could lead to increased prices, experts warn.


Nicki Spoor, head of audit and


regulation at travel accountancy firm White Hart Associates, said: “The Civil Aviation Authority has got consumer protection at its heart, but high on consumers’ list of priorities is the cost of holidays.


“So with this raft of regulations coming in, pushing up costs for holiday companies, the question is, is it to the detriment of customers because of higher prices?” Spoor said firms had already


increased prices after regulations banned credit card charges earlier this year and are facing implementing new GDPR data regulations as well as the new Package Travel Directive (PTD). She added that even if firms


could avoid increasing prices, they might not be able to pass on the advantages of cheaper flying


6 travelweekly.co.uk 19 April 2018


“Your costs are being squeezed but your prices are defined by the market”


on competitive routes or foreign exchange gains to the consumer. Martin Alcock, director of


The Travel Consultancy, agreed that prices are likely to rise as a result of the revised PTD as more travel sellers will have to take out product liability insurance.


He said this would particularly


affect the dynamic packaging market that had previously been able to avoid the full liability of selling a package under the old Flight-Plus Atol arrangement. “If you are a travel business, the


problem is your costs are being squeezed but your prices are defined by the market, so there will be winners and losers. “The bigger companies will


be able to absorb this but it will be the smaller companies that will be squeezed and you will get consolidation off the back of that.”


PICTURE: SARAH LUCY BROWN


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