Originally Posted by hvisti
I don't know which airline has what kind of agreement with the travel agencies. In Finland AY did the same thing BA is doing now two or three years ago and introduced these (self-)service fees. With AY this mickey mouse internet fee is 15 EUR (10 GBP) and if one buys a ticket at a Finnair office it is 45 EUR, so this BA charge is low if compared to that.
/hv
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These online fees started appearing in markets where airlines moved to paying zero percent travel agency commissions. The idea was that, by levying a fee, they could be seen to operate on a level playing field (to the agent).
The point is though, that travellers would expect to pay the agent a fee as he or she is providing impartial advice, booking ground arrangements or maybe handling a visa request. Airlines can't provide this sort of help.
Now it would seem the airlines are using online fees as another cash-raising opportunity. Otherwise how can you explain how the charges can vary from country to country, class to class ?
BA's Euro 5 fee for all flights is one of the cheapest. By comparison, in Germany LH charges Euros 10 for a short-haul flight but if you book a long-haul business class flight online then the fee rockets to Euros 23.
Or how about Swiss which has a different online fee depending on where you book. So you pay Euros 6 to use swiss.com in Portugal, Euros 10 in Italy or France, Euros 15 in Germany and Euros 20 in Belgium and Luxembourg.