ATLANTA -- Effective Feb. 1, Worldspan plans to eliminate
charges for unticketed passive segments created in the U.S. and
Canada and to charge a new rate per ticketed passive segment of
$1.75. To "minimize the impact" on its own finances, the CRS plans
to increase other fees by 4.8%, the vendor said.
Worldspan's new policy applies even if agents do not use the
CRS' nonbillable Air TVL Segment, which was upgraded in 1997 to
curtail unproductive segment fees.
Currently, most CRS vendors collect fees from the airlines for
every transaction entered by a travel agent. But the airlines have
been sending a message to the CRSs that they would establish new
distribution methods unless the vendors cooperated in curbing
abuses.