TRAVEL agents are claiming they will have to spend thousands of pounds redesigning their technology systems to cope with changes following British Airways’ decision to axe commission payments.
At the moment, agency back-office systems automatically work out how much commission is payable according to the price of an air ticket. But from January 1 next year, a separate system will have to be in place to work out payment on BAsales.
ABTAand the Guild of Business Travel Agents are currently looking at possible changes and how much it is likely to cost. But agents say the new system will be confusing to implement.
For example, from January next year, BAwill pay a one-off fee per sector. However, a £1,000 ticket could be made up of one or several sectors. The airline has also said it will pay a bonus to agents who take bookings not made by credit card.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel vice-president JimTweedie said:”We will have to do a lot of work to re-engineer our systems to cope with the new structure.
“We will make sure that we have something ready by January but it does present quite a challenge for us.”
Advantage Travel Centres business development manager Norman Gage said: “What was a easy system will now be complicated. It could cost thousands of pounds.”
BTIUKinternational operations director Mike Platt said the main problem will be that the commission system still used by the other airlines will have to be run in parallel with a separate BApayment system. “It will be a huge amount of work at a huge cost,” he said.
P&OTravel managing director Tony Hughes said:”There is a concern we are going to need to invest time and money. I can’t see any way round the need to renegotiate our systems.”
But Equinus travel technology consultancy partner Mike Cogan said that system suppliers will be able to cope with the amount of work involved.
A BAspokeswoman said: “To make the process as easy as possible, we are working closely with computer reservations systems companies.”