Company Watch - Lufthansa

New York (AirGuideBusiness - Company Watch) Jan 24, 2010 The bland announcement at the turn of the year that Amadeus and Lufthansa (including Swiss) have signed a long-term full content agreement hides a furious row over distribution costs between the two sides that ran for nearly two years. The two also swapped legal barbs, with Amadeus filing a breach of contract case against Lufthansa and the airline replying with an injunction against the GDS. Lufthansa, like many other network carriers, has long sought to reduce its cost of distribution with the main target being what it sees as the high booking fees charged by the global distribution systems Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. And in home markets, where the national carrier has its power base, the tactics have been to get customers to book directly on the airline website and to a find a way of getting travel agents and ultimately customers to pay the GDS booking fee instead of the airline. Lufthansa unveiled its plan to transfer booking fees to travel agents in early 2008 in Germany and Switzerland to a storm of protest from agents and puzzlement from Amadeus. The giant GDS and giant airline group had been negotiating hard, freed from European rules that regulated the prices in this area up until the end of 2007. But they could not reach a deal. Jan 19, 2010