Carlson wagonlit
CARLSON Wagonlit Travel UKvice-president Jim Tweedie is calling on British Airways to lower air fares when it axes commission next year.
BAhas already hinted that some fares will come down as a result of the airline scrapping commissions on January 1 next year, but Tweedie said agents needed to know sooner rather than later which routes will go down in price and by how much.
Tweedie said: “BA will be better off because it will not be paying commission. If it does not cut fares, then effectively what it will be doing to the majority of its corporate clients is to increase the cost of travel.
“BA may want to keep all that percentage itself – I don’t blame the airline for wanting to do that, but it is not good from the point of view of looking after our customers’ interests,” he said. “I expect BA will wait and see what the market situation is like in November before it announces its fares, or it could hang on until January. We want to know as soon as possible what the airline will be charging.”
Advantage Business Travel Centres business development manager Norman Gage backed Tweedie’s call. “What worries me is that BAwill start to put prices up now, so it can go back to the level of fares it started at. BA does not want to disclose its hand too quickly because it does not want the rest of the market to know. BAmust have a clear idea of the services that it is cutting back the price on. Let’s see it.”
BTIUKinternational commercial director Mike Platt said:”I’m convinced prices will go down, but the issue is how long they will stay down for.”
ABA spokeswoman said:”We are looking at introducing a range of fares but are not yet in a position to say what they are.”