British Airways could withdraw some of its lowest fare classes from Travelport’s GDSs if an agreement cannot be reached on a new content agreement.
BA’s current deal with Travelport, which runs the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs, is due to expire today (December 10) according to a letter sent by the airline to TMCs.
“As of December 11, Travelport will not meet the requirements to be a fully participating GDS,” said the letter from BA.
“Certain of the lowest BA fare classes will be deselected from content made available to Travelport.
“In addition, short-haul economy class fares sold through Travelport will carry a point-of-sale charge to cover a portion of the additional costs associated with Travelport's services.”
Travelport has also written to customers to update them on the situation with the BA agreement.
“We continue to offer BA a broad range of options to enable them to realise revenue growth by leveraging Travelport’s new technologies, including our industry-leading merchandising platform, under highly attractive terms,” said the letter from Travelport.
“We are optimistic that BA and Travelport will reach a new long-term agreement soon that meets the needs of all parties in the distribution value chain.
“As we continue our discussions, Travelport intends to maintain the terms of its current commercial relationship with BA, with the BA opt-in programme remaining intact, and our sincere hope is that BA will do likewise.
“Should BA choose not to follow this course and take any actions that are not in your best interest, we will respond as appropriate and communicate more details at such time.”
GTMC chief executive Paul Wait said: “It's a shame that two global brands are conducting - what should be a private commercial negotiation - in public.
“All that happens is it causes corporate customers to reconsider plans and rebook passengers and all potentially at a cost, both in time and money.
“Far better if negotiations were kept private, with TMCs dealing with whatever is eventually announced as a confirmed agreement, rather than working on the premise of what might happen."