NEW YORK -- There are years when we have a hard time identifying
the top story, but this was not one of them.
1. Topping the list was the major U.S. airlines' cut of the base
commission rate to 8%, initiated by United in September and
followed in part or in whole by many second-tier carriers and
foreign lines.
2. A group of agents teamed up with the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to form the Travel
Agents' Guild (IAMAW), a fledgling union that intends to use
collective bargaining power to force the major carriers to
negotiate commissions. ASTA and some labor law experts argued that
it won't fly because of antitrust concerns, but the call to
organize -- a first for the agency community -- nonetheless struck
a cord with some agents. Guild representatives say at least 4,000
agents have expressed interest in joining. They anticipate signing
up some 10,000 agents by March.
3. A record 267 full-service agencies voluntarily relinquished
their accreditation in November, as the average domestic commission
fell to an all-time low of 6.92%.
4. Airlines began selling tickets on their Web sites in earnest,
in some cases offering Internet-only fares that were not
commissionable.
5. Airlines also stepped up efforts to curb fare "abuses" such
as back-to-back ticketing and "throwaway" tickets, while continuing
their assaults on computerized reservations system abuses, such as
passive bookings and churning.
6. The Airlines Reporting Corp. moved quickly to accommodate
agents who charge service fees for airline tickets.
7. Changes in the tax rules led several car rental companies,
led by Avis, Budget and Hertz, to cut by half the number of airline
miles that corporate and government travelers earn on car rentals,
and Avis and Hertz also dropped out of some airline programs.
8. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines bought Celebrity Cruises, a move
that distressed some agents because of its effects on Celebrity's
incentive programs.
9. The hotel industry continued to consolidate, and while the
lodging industry has never been the plasma of an agency's
lifeblood, monolithic enterprises seldom are good news for the
retail community.
10. Asian tigers took an economic whipping, which could have a
severe impact on airlines, tour operators and technology companies
operating in the region in 1998.