BA Eliminates Commissions; Plans to Add Consumer Fee

British Airways will become the biggest airline yet to implement what amounts to a net-fare system in its home country, eliminating commissions for agents in the U.K., while adding consumer fees on every route for telephone and ticket-counter bookings.

British Airways, currently paying U.K. agents 1% commission, will go to zero May 1. Concurrently, it will begin charging consumers a $28 “offline service fee” when long-haul flights are booked at airline ticket counters, call centers and British Airways Travel Shops.

For short-haul flights, British Airways has been charging a service fee for ticket-counter, call-center and Travel Shop bookings since June 2002.

The airline, however, has not yet committed to adding a service fee for online bookings.