GDS and online agencies sue Lufthansa Group over brokerage surcharge

Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport, as well as the largest online travel agencies have filed a complaint with the European Commission against all airlines in the Lufthansa group that have begun charging a surcharge of 16 euros on the ticket price when the booking is made through intermediaries, considering it "discriminatory.

 

 

ETTSA, the European association that integrates the main GDS (Amadeus, Sabre and Travelpot), as well as the online agencies Expedia, Odigeo and their member brands have filed a complaint against Lufthansa with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. It is its response to the initiative of the airlines that make up the group (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines), which began charging the new 16-euro surcharge on all bookings made through intermediaries on September 1.

This time it has been the three major global reservation distribution systems and two of the travel agency giants, who have formalized the aforementioned complaint. ETTSA considers that it is against the competition regulations that the only way to avoid the surcharge is to book on the Lufthansa website, which avoids comparison with other airlines and produces extra costs to online travel agencies (OTAs).

This complaint by OTAs and GDSs is in addition to the one already filed by travel agencies through the European Travel Agents Association (ECTAA). If the EC were to agree with the complainants, it could impose a penalty on Lufthansa of around 3 billion euros, amounting to 10% of its annual revenues, which last year were 30 billion euros.