LufthansaflatbatsDCCquestions

Lufthansa continues to talk the talk around the impact of its year-old distribution cost charge (DCC), although concrete details about the impact on its bookings and bottom line remain elusive.

Last September, the German airline group added a €16 fee to any bookings made through GDSs.

Jens Bischof, EVP, Lufthansa German Airlines, kicked off a session on the opening day of the Phocuswright Conference in Los Angeles with the usual complaint against the way in which airline content is currently distributed through the GDSs, using a cryptic display screengrab to illustrate the perceived shortcomings.

He acknowledged “that things are slowly improving” and namechecked Sabre Red Workspace and Travelport’s Rich Content  as examples. But what Lufthansa really wants is the realtime dynamic pricing, rather than the “constrained and standardised” pricing options which the current full content agreements permit.

And he revealed that Swiss – a Lufthansa Group airline – will introduce dynamic realtime pricing in Q1 2017.