The European Passengers’ Federation has been following with great interest the announcement of the Lufthansa Group to redirect its commercial strategy amongst others towards a clear cost differentiation between the booking channels which passengers and travel agents use. The Lufthansa Group will add a “Distribution Cost Charge” (DCC) of EUR 16 for every ticket issued by a booking channel using GDS. The new charge will not be added to flight tickets purchased using Lufthansa’s own booking channels, primarily their own website.

EPF respects the autonomy of the Lufthansa Group in defining their own commercial strategy but this decision will have negative effects for the passengers especially in the home countries of the Lufthansa group.

Websites where a passenger can compare and book flights use the GDS system and they will be charged 16 € when they book a LHG-flight via such a site. If they book on the airline website itself they avoid this surcharge. Passengers will be forced to go to multiple channels for the best fares. This makes price comparison for a passenger more difficult and has a negative effect on the price transparency as a whole.

EPF is concerned about this evolution and the decline it could bring in price transparency for the passenger. We would like to ask the Lufthansa Group to reconsider this decision and look for other solutions for the issues that lead to this decision.

Download the statement here: EPF Statement concerning Distribution Cost Charge of Lufthansa Group