The European Technology and Travel Services Association (ETTSA) filed an anti-trust complaint against Lufthansa in Brussels this week.
ETTSA accused Lufthansa of “abuse of its dominant position and discriminatory practices”.
The complaint to the EC antitrust authority (DG-COMP), filed on December 19, was made jointly with the German association for the digital travel sector, the VIR.
It accuses the German-based airline group of “discriminatory and exclusionary practices against independent distributors of airline tickets, including global distribution systems (GDSs) and travel agency users”.
ETTSA represents the major GDSs and online travel agencies (OTAs) in Brussels.
The complaint alleges Lufthansa Group “systematically leverages its dominance in the German and other national markets by refusing to supply its cheapest fare classes through GDSs.
“It also imposes unjustified surcharges on these independent distributors that penalise consumers and corporate buyers.”
ETTSA calculates consumers have paid more than €1 billion in surcharges to Lufthansa since the group imposed a €16 fee on GDS bookings of Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines’ flights in September 2015.
Rival airline groups IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, and Air France-KLM subsequently imposed similar fees – IAG in November 2017 and Air France-KLM from April this year.
The airline groups have also begun to restrict the availability of fares through the traditional GDSs, making the cheapest fares available only direct or to intermediaries with agreements to develop connections enabled by New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology which is still in development.
ETTSA’s complaint is directed at Lufthansa since the group was the subject of a previous complaint to the EC in 2015 when it first imposed the surcharges.
The EC examined that complaint and appeared close to issuing a ruling, but announced this summer that it could not do so pending a possible revision of the EC regulation under which the complaint was brought. That triggered an ETTSA complaint to the European Ombudsman in July.
The anti-trust complaint alleges: “The Lufthansa Group intentionally and unfairly restricts competition in the air ticket distribution as well as airline services markets . . . [its] actions damage smaller competitors . . . [and] Lufthansa Group also imposes its own technological distribution solutions on independent distributors.”
It claims Lufthansa’s actions, and those of airlines “adopting similar practices”, could have a “profoundly negative impact on millions of European consumers”.
ETTSA and the VIR call on the Commission to investigate “as a matter of urgency”, arguing “the situation [is] deteriorating fast for consumers as a result of Lufthansa’s practices”.
Emmanuel Mounier, ETTSA secretary general, said: “The time to act is now.”
VIR chairman Michael Buller argued: “It’s obvious the company tries to push competitors out of the market. This cannot be tolerated.”