The number of U.S. airline people here at the ASTA meeting in
Strasbourg is so small you can almost count them. United, of
course, is no longer welcome in the Society. I haven't seen anyone
from Delta and just one person is here from American.
TWA and Continental have larger delegations because both are
sponsoring events. TWA is running its annual dinner for ASTA
officials on Wednesday and later that evening, Continental is
sponsoring a party for everyone. Midwest Express also has
representatives here.
ASTA's decision to expel United is popular with some, but not
all agents here. President Joe Galloway's reference to it in his
opening-session speech drew applause but some agents have said they
disagree with the decision. The detractors contend that ASTA needs
to keep a dialogue open with United and that will be harder to do
now that the Society has expelled the carrier.
The opening-session "town meeting" to discuss the airline
situation featured a panel of the Society's top officers fielding
questions from audience members. The ASTA position is that in
addition to attacking the carriers' commission policy at the
federal government level, agents must join in local efforts to
persuade the public that the airlines are putting the trade's
valuable services at peril by reducing compensation.
While several comments about ASTA's "fight back" plan were
applauded by the audience, some questioners charged that the
Society's officials weren't doing enough and shouldn't depend on
the rank and file to make its program work.
But members of the panel replied that the rank and file working
together could do more than the official representatives by
promoting the role of agents in their communities.
The importance of service fees as a measure to counteract
commission cuts also received attention. One questioner complained
that service fees were insufficient to offset the loss of
commissions.
But Bruce Tepper, a travel industry consultant who specializes
in service fees, maintained that agencies shouldn't view service
fees simply as an antidote to commission cuts.
He said agencies need to take stock of their overall costs and
assign a value to their range of services before deciding on the
level of fees.
Beyond the commission issue, President Galloway maintained that
the fundamental problem with airline-agency relations is that the
airlines have eliminated competition.
He said the approval of the many post-deregulation mergers had
left the big three carriers, United, American and Delta, with so
much power that they no longer fear any steps they take with regard
to their distribution system.