AMERICAN AIRLINES has axed plans to levy a fare surcharge on bookings made by agents using Travelport-owned booking systems.
The airline was to introduce a booking source premium as part of a strategy to drive customers to its Direct Connect product, which bypasses the global distribution systems (GDSs) such as Travelport's Galileo and Worldspan systems.
AA had planned to collect the fee by issuing travel management companies (TMCs) with agency debit memos (ADMs), a feature of the IATA billing settlement plan that TMCs use to pay airlines.
The AA climbdown was the latest development in a dispute that started in late 2010. Both parties are still locked in litigation proceedings regarding an alleged breach of contract by AA.