The bodies, including the UK Guild of Travel Management Companies, the Global Business Travel Association, the Institute of Travel Management and the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators’ Association, have called for an examination of competition in the airline sector, urging “EU legislation to protect transparency, competition and consumer choice” to be enforced.
The plea follows IAG’s announcement last month that it will impose an £8 fee on GDS bookings for British Airways and Iberia fares from November.
Lufthansa imposed a €16 GDS charge in September 2015.
The grievances were expressed in a letter to European commissioner for transport Violeta Bulc, dated June 19.
In the document, delivered to Brussels earlier this week, the signatories warn: “The more large airlines join this practice, the more difficult it will be to sustain an independent and neutral distribution channel where consumers can compare airlines objectively.”
The associations insist that the European Commission “needs to act now” to “defend transparency and neutrality in airline distribution”.
The bodies also highlight that the commission has “[for almost two years] been examining complaints against the practices of the Lufthansa Group under Code of Conduct [rules] adopted to avoid a situation where large carriers take distribution hostage to promote their own offers… to the detriment of competition and consumer choice”.
