Not A Happy Camper

In an advisory to its members – http://www.acta.ca/advisory/lf/lf2015.html — on this week’s announcement by Lufthansa Group that it would be implementing a 16 Euro distribution cost charge (DCC) on tickets for bookings that did not come through its web site, B2B agency portal, service centres or airport ticket counters beginning Sept. 1, 2015, ACTA said that it found “it discouraging that the Lufthansa Group could not find other mechanisms to absorb the ‘distribution costs’ of E16.”

The association stated that: “By passing this cost on to the agent, or forcing them to use an alternate booking platform, will have major impact towards off-selling Lufthansa product. We simply do not understand why Lufthansa would make such a move to make things more difficult and expensive for the Travel Agency Community to sell Lufthansa. We will continue to monitor this story as more information becomes available and appreciate any comments that you may have.”

In a follow up to that advisory, ACTA president and COO, David McCaig noted that the move is “very disappointing because, now more than ever, a traveller should be able to rely on neutral and impartial advice of travel agents to find their way through the jungle of airline fares, charges, fuel surcharges and other ancillaries.”

McCaig continued: “While consumer protection, particularly during the NDC implementation phase, is at the root of our concerns, Lufthansa’s announcement to redirect a strategy to favour its own distribution channel goes in the opposite direction.”