Northwest Airlines plans to charge travel agents $7.50 for every
domestic roundtrip booked through a GDS. The change was announced
Aug. 24 to take effect Sept. 1.
“Northwest calls this a shared GDS fee, which implies they are
doing something good for us,” said ASTA President Richard Copland.
“My answer is: Don’t do me any favors. When I want you to share
your costs with me, I’ll let you know.”
Northwest said it pays $12.50 per GDS booking and wants to save
$70 million by billing agents. The airline says no fee will be
charged on tickets booked on its Web site.
ARTA called Northwest’s move “a huge blunder.”
