Die angekündigte Preiserhöhung der Lufthansa schlägt hohe Wellen - insbesondere die Begründung mit der die deutsche Airline seine Vertriebskosten auf die Kunden abwälzen wird, sorgt für Unmut.
Lufthansa führt an dass die Distribution Cost Charge (DCC) notwendig ist, weil die Reservierungssysteme zu hohe Gebühren für ihre Dienste verlangten.
Jens Bischoff, Vorstandsmitglied der Lufthansa, hat in mehreren Interviews dazu geäußert, dass die Kosten der Lufthansa für einen Fluschein über ein Reservierungssystem gebucht bei 16 - 18 Euro (indirekte Vetriebskosten) lägen, über die Lufthansa Website hingegen nur bei 2 Euro (direkte Vertriebskosten).
Amadeus, das führende Reservierungssystem in Europa, widerspricht vehement - und unterstellt Lufthansa in den Verhandlungen über die PNR Fees nie wirkliche eine Einigung beabsichtigt zu haben. In einem ersten Statement des CEO Amadeus North America, Scott Gutz heißt es:
"June 3rd, 2015
Dear customer,
The announcement of Lufthansa Group’s (LHG) commercial strategy on June 2nd, has led to many questions from our valued customers, which we would like to address here.
First, LHG has created some confusion suggesting we have recently reached an agreement, and support its new commercial strategy. This is not the case.
LHG’s intention to introduce a surcharge was completely unknown to Amadeus. It is only through LHG’s public communication on June 2nd that Amadeus became aware of its plans.
Amadeus has engaged in good faith with LHG for over a year with the objective of renewing an agreement with LHG to make all of its content available to the travel agency community. Having this content in the indirect channel would provide travelers with the consistency, transparency and choice that they demand, giving them the liberty to shop where they want.
We were led to believe that LHG was engaged throughout the process. It seems this was not the case and LHG’s true intentions were not shared with us.
As of June 1st, only a Global Distribution Agreement (GDA) remains in place between LHG and Amadeus. The GDA (formerly, the Participating Carrier Agreement) is the baseline agreement that any airline has in order to be distributed through Amadeus, with or without a full content agreement. The GDA is not a new contract model, and has been in place for many years now.
Without a full content agreement, LHG may have fare differences between direct and indirect distribution. But this does not imply that Amadeus agrees with LHG’s new commercial strategy. We believe that this surcharge in the indirect channel will put travel agencies at a disadvantage.
Amadeus supports easy connectivity, transparency and comparability throughout the entire travel industry. The majority of the industry seems to support this, too: more than 500 airlines are bookable in the Amadeus GDS, and in 2014 over 85% of bookings made on Amadeus were covered by full content agreements.
Second, LHG claims in its communication that the standard indirect distribution cost is €18 per ticket, while the direct distribution cost is only €2. Amadeus does not recognize these figures: they have no relation to our current or previous agreements.
The €2 direct distribution cost seems to be significantly understated. We do not know how LHG has reached this number but we believe the technology and internal costs to LHG alone for direct distribution are above €2. Furthermore, this figure seems to omit the substantial cost of online traffic acquisition, commonly understood in the industry to be €15-€20 per ticket. Therefore, it seems LHG is driven by reasons other than cost.
As such, LHG’s true intentions with its surcharge program are unclear.
We believe that this is an industry issue and to progress will require a constructive dialogue among all players: airlines, travel agencies, travel buyers and technology providers.
Please let us know of any concerns or comments you may have and, as always, we’re at your disposal for further discussions.
Best regards,
Scott Gutz
President and Chief Executive Officer
Amadeus North America, Inc."
Quelle: The Beat Business Travel
Im Sinne eines besten Service für unsere Kunden und einer bisher hervorragenden Vertriebspartnerschaft mit Lufthansa lehnen wir bei ITC Derpart Travel Service die Preiserhöhung in Form der Distribution Cost Charge ab.
Wir sind überzeugt, dass diese Entscheidung der Lufthansa ein weiterer Schritt weg von den Marktrealitäten ist, und dies zum Nachteil der Kunden der Lufthansa wie auch der Lufthansa selbst sein wird. Auch wir als Geschäftsreisebüro sind dadurch absehbar negativ beeinträchtigt.