ITM chairman Mark Cuschieri spoke of his disappointment and frustration at how Lufthansa did not consult the business travel community before rolling out the €16 GDS fee.
The controversial topic was a much-debated issue at the latest BBTForum held in London earlier this month, especially as Lufthansa's director for UK and Ireland Christian Schindler joined Cuschieri on a panel to discuss who pays for distribution?
"When buyers received the news there was a lot of anger in the way it was conducted," said Cuschieri. "We understand every company has to adapt to survive but this announcement flies in the face of what underpins a travel programme."
He added: "A poll by ITM taken shortly after the announcement showed many buyers would consider switching suppliers once the change was brought in."
Schindler responded by saying he was "sorry" but change was needed. "Our goals were very clear. If you have a major cost factor in your business you will look at it.
"The other factor is we want to drive change. We will continue to work GDSs not against them as they still have an important part to play."
One buyer agreed with Cuschieri and said the announcement had been too rapid. "The change has been very quick and we haven't had time to wake-up. We have a duty of care and Lufthansa's proposals don't comply with us... We are being penalised for using the GDS."
Schindler made the point that this move is already happening in other sectors. "If you look outside our industry in areas such as retail you can buy the same product for different prices, this is only the beginning."
ITM's Cuschieri added: "What we want is parity. I understand you want to be in control of what you sell but we don't have parity now.
"You have treated your high-yield corporate customers as the same as one-off customers, it's hard to understand. If you differentiate your distribution model then differentiate your customer model. It really slaps in the face of a number of buyers."
However, one buyer said people in the industry shouldn't be getting too "irate" about this. "The total cost of the purchase is what we're looking at. This fee in itself is not relevant and I don't have much of a problem with it except they launched it too quickly."
The BBT Forum supported by ACTE was held at the Grange City Hotel, London on October 2.