While the Japan-US traffic thru NW is dominated by the two biggest Japanese TAs, JTB and HIS, who will in my opinion still get some sort of commission in the future, the other Asian destinations, i.e. BKK, HKG, SIN are booked mostly thru other and smaller agencies. The decision to stop paying commission must have a negative impact on their willingness to book a fare on NW, especially considering that they still have better options.