Beginning September 1, 2015, passengers who book their Lufthansa Group airline tickets via ‘GDS’ outlets will be assessed a €16/$18 surcharge.
‘GDS’ or Global Distribution System tickets are the tickets that are booked through travel agents or online portals such as Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline, etc.
The surcharge is being added due to increases in expenses associated with GDS tickets. Lufthansa Group’s expense incurred with GDS tickets runs into the hundreds of millions of Euro each year due to the expense of the distribution network (fees and commissions paid to the vendors).
Tickets purchased through a Lufthansa Group Airline’s website, service center or ticket counter at the airport will not be subject to this surcharge. This applies to Lufthansa, Brussels, Austrian, SWISS, and Germanwings/Eurowings websites.
I find this GDS surcharge unfair and ridiculous. Fuel cost just dropped around 50% over the last 8 months or so yet there was no adjustment in airline ticket prices. Lufthansa is really starting to irk me!
Regardless of the fuel expense, which will not be depressed forever, LH was losing €16 Euro that is was paying the GDS network to distribute the ticket. With the fee they are basically recouping the fee and returning to breakeven on GDS expenses. Also, what airline has cut their prices to reflect their fuel savings dollar for dollar?
I’m sure this charge will be offset with a reduction in fare due to cheap fuel! Snork…
Sabre (and other GDS systems) already reimburse Lufthansa for the fees associated with booking via their systems. Why does LH feel the need to charge this extra fee for GDS bookings? How much does it really cost to electronically process a ticket from the a GDS system? Sounds like a “money-grab” to me! If LH wants to reduce cost, why not simply reduce the commissions that it pays to agencies, especially the “over-ride” commissions paid to Expedia, Travelocity, et al rather than a random fee that is not equal to the true cost? This is a huge slap in the face to travel agents and OTAs who have supported LH in the past? Perhaps, LH is simply hoping that the travel agents will pass the silly fees to their customers. Everyone should simply book with AF/KLM, BA/IB and the other European groups as well as the US airlines who don’t throw out random charges to pad their accounts. Sad state of the industry!