In the latest disagreement between travel agents and airlines, United Airlines has announced that they will no longer pay credit card fees on behalf of travel agents.  This means that travel agencies will have to pay the credit card fees themselves.

Ordinarily merchants pay anywhere from 2% to 3% of the cost of goods sold as a fee to the credit card companis in order to have the ability to accept credit cards.  The fees are known as merchant fees.  Up until now, airlines have always paid those merchant fees on behalf of travel agents. In the case of United Airlines, that just changed.

Struggling airlines are looking for ways to cut costs.  They are changing the way services are bundled into the price of the ticket.  Many small items that used to be included in the ticket price are now becoming extras. Merchant fees have now joined the ranks of meals and extra bags that now merit extra charges.

Robin Urbanski Janikowski, a United spokesperson, commented, “Costs of distributing our services are significant and we will continue to reduce these costs while we run an efficient airline for our customers.”

Travel agents are naturally complaining. Many agents believe that this is the start of a trend that could lead to other airlines following in the footsteps of United.

In the end, it will probably be the travelers themselves who lose out as these fees eventually get passed on to the consumer.

Thanks to www.abcnews.go.com for the above quote. For more information about this article please visit their web site