Agents have reacted with a mixture of anger and caution to BA's decision to scrap commission payments in the UK from May 1.
The British national carrier said the change from 1% to 0% was in line with the agents' “changing role in the market.”
But while agents accept that other airlines are switching to zero commission, some are furious with the way BA has done it.
The carrier has written a letter to each UK agency requiring them to sign a statement that the move to zero commission satisfies IATA rules. These say that an airline must provide an agent with remuneration and BA claims the this is met by the ability of the agency to charge customers a service fee.
If they do not sign, the airline said it will remove them from its list of appointed BA agents.
One agent said this amounted to “pointing a gun at our heads and ordering us to sign.”
Another said: “BA has behaved outrageously. With this letter, they are basically saying ‘Sign your rights away under the IATA rules to recover any payment.'
“You can't alter the letter or negotiate. You are just required to sign it and unless you do, they will not let you issue any BA tickets.
“But you can't go away because you cannot get by without them. If that is not an abuse of a dominant position, I don't know what is.”
The UK's Guild of Business Travel Agents (GBTA) has advised its members not sign the letter until further notice.
Philip Carlisle, GBTA's chief executive, said the BA move “potentially represents a major change in relationships between airlines and travel management companies.”
He added the Guild would take time to study the letter and consult with other industry bodies including ACTE and Paragon. He said they were also seeking “further advice and clarification.”
BA said the letter was the “only way” of implementing its policy.
Ian Heywood, BA's head of consumer and agency sales, said: “We need to continue to transform our business to remain competitive and to reflect the changing needs of the market and our customers.
“This is part of a global trend. In many parts of the world, carriers no longer pay commission to travel agents.” He rejected the claim that the agents had no choice.