Agencies raise costs to access airlines like Avianca

Paula Cortés, president of Anato, has pointed out REPORTUR.co the way in which agencies have dealt with changes in airlines to connect directly with content. This is the case of Avianca, which has implemented NDC or GDS, forcing them to assume technology costs.

“Travel agencies continue to receive incentives depending on the volume of their sales. Something that has changed is that today there is an increase in the costs that they have had to pay technology companies for the implementation of the NDC and thus connect directly to the airline, or through the GDS with the airline,” said Paula Cortés to REPORTUR.co.

He added that “Travel agencies are assuming these fees in order to have full access to the content and obtain the same rates without additional costs to the consumer or passenger. Thus, agencies continue to receive 1% commission, which is a legal regulation,” Cortes explained to this newspaper.

As reported by REPORTUR.coas of April 1, Avianca implemented an additional charge for tickets issued by Opt-out agencies in Colombia and EDIFACT technology outside the country. However, one of the exceptions is for tickets issued through NDC technology, aviancanet and/or direct Avianca channels, among others. (Avianca: additional charge for agencies on tickets inside and outside Colombia).

This fee will go from USD 6 to USD 8. The airline specified that in Colombia it applies to all tickets issued through Opt-out agencies that do not belong to any Opt-in program, on all routes and fares. Outside Colombia, the fee is intended for tickets issued in a traditional GDS such as EDIFACT and that is not NDC, and will also be applied to all fares.