Agents in Germany are waiting to see if any other GDSs sign a deal with Lufthansa over its controversial preferred fares scheme.
Sabre Travel Network became the first GDS to do a deal with the national carrier and its subsidiary SWISS exempting its agents from the fees the two airlines plan to impose on agents booking through GDSs.
But Sabre is the smallest GDS in the country and agents are now waiting to see if the largest, Amadeus, which has 80% of the GDS business, will also sign up.
A spokesman for the DRV, the German agents' association, said a meeting with the Bundeskartellamt – the German monopolies authority – was called off last week after Sabre and Lufthansa signed their deal.
"The authorities want to know what this deal means for the market so we have to get some more information on it from Sabre and Lufthansa. They also want to know what Amadeus will do.
"We think the deal is a good first step but it is not enough," the spokesman said.
The meeting between the Bundeskartellamt and the DRV has now been rescheduled for June 3.
Under the deal, Sabre travel agents in Germany, Switzerland and Austria will be exempted from fees Lufthansa plans to impose in the summer under its new fares scheme.
The deal allows Sabre agents in the three countries which sign up to Lufthansa's programme to have access to all of the two carriers' fares and inventory.
Under the Lufthansa/SWISS scheme, fares will go up by 15 one way and 30 for a round trip on tickets bought in Germany and Austria from July 1.
Prices for tickets bought in Switzerland and Liechtenstein will go up from October 1.
But the carriers said they would continue to make available the current lower fares after those dates.
These will be called "preferred fares" but will be subject to the surcharge if booked through a GDS.
Lufthansa will charge agencies 4.90 plus VAT per coupon and SWISS will charge CHF8 (5) per booking. It is this fee from which Sabre agents will now be exempt.
If the preferred fares are booked through the two carriers' travel agent portals, or direct from the airlines' websites, call centres or ticket counters, there will also be no fee.
The scheme, announced in January, has angered agents in all three countries who have claimed it is Lufthansa's method of cutting 2.5m from its distribution costs.
There have also been calls to boycott the programme.
Amadeus, in which Lufthansa has a minority stake, strongly criticised the scheme when it was first launched, claiming it had not been consulted.