American Airlines has ditched its controversial surcharge levied on agents booking on the Travelport global distribution systems (GDSs).
In late December, AA said it would introduce a Booking Source Premium (BSP) scheme on Galileo and Worldspan users outside the US and Caribbean.
Fees were to be collected via agency debit memos (ADMs), a feature of IATA’s billing settlement plan used by travel management companies (TMCs) to pay airlines.
In return Travelport has removed its charge on AA bookings, the so-called “YY tax”, which covered the additional cost to agents from the BSP.
The move is the latest development in a long-running dispute between the airline, GDSs and online travel agencies.
Travelport is currently in the process of suing AA after the carrier removed its fares from online travel agency Orbitz, which is part-owned by the GDS.
The technology firm claimed AA was in breach of its full content agreement.
Anne Godfrey, CEO of the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC), said it remains essential that all TMCs have equal access to all content through all channels.
She said: “The proposed imposition of a surcharge by American Airlines for bookings made on one specific channel in certain markets, would have unavoidably disadvantaged some TMCs at a time when business levels are showing signs of recovering.”