LAS VEGAS — Vacation.com introduced a program here on Sunday that enables member agencies to make commissions selling airline tickets.
Speaking at V-com's 13th annual International Conference and Trade Show, Stephen McGillivray, chief marketing officer of V-com's parent company Travel Leaders Group, told the audience, "I've never stood before you with a bigger announcement than this. This marks the return to front-end commission from dozens of airlines. This is very, very good news."
V-com President John Lovell said the program, called AirPRO, is a "game changer."
Starting this fall, agents who use AirPro will make commissions of up to 11% by selling any of about 50 airlines. The commission will depend on the route and cabin class.
"Our agents will now be in a position to really drive the customer experience from end to end and drive a new revenue stream," Lovell said.
"Most agencies today, if they do sell air, might not have enough purchasing or buying power to receive any type of at-source commission," he added. "And if you are not an ARC agency, you are out of the air game unless you are using a consolidator or some other solution."
Lovell said that no other consortia offer such an extensive air commission program.
"Our contracts are structured with commissions paid on numerous classes of service and many origins and destinations," he said.
For the airlines, Lovell said that being part of the program was an opportunity to reach a quarter of all U.S. travel agents: "They look at Vacation.com and say, 'We can talk to one organization and touch 25% of the distribution channel.'"
Participating U.S. airlines will pay commission on some domestic routes, he said, depending on the route and the airline.
"The airlines are looking for higher per diems and higher classes of service, and they are willing to pay for that," Lovell said.
AirPRO will be divided into three groups depending on the agency’s GDS affiliation and business mix: AirPRO Prime, AirPRO Direct and AirPRO Excel.
The Prime program will target agencies that aren't ARC-accredited, such as cruise-only agencies. AirPRO Direct is designed for small and medium-sized agencies that use a GDS, while Excel targets large agencies that have the potential to move market share.
The price to join AIRPro is $199 for Prime and Direct and $300 for Excel.
Agents would recoup the fee by booking only "two or three business-class tickets over the Atlantic," McGillivray said.