Earlier, the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) had warned airlines that they should offer fares and inventory to travel agents on similar terms, and in 2013, travel agents were given “unlimited inventory.” was forced to manage
he New sales system introduced by LATAM Airlines It has been controversial among independent travel companies, who denounce: anti-competitive behavior and discrimination against consumers.
For this, Tourism Enterprise Trade Association AG (Achet) The company filed a preliminary judgment with the Court of Defensa La Libre Competencia (Tdlc) asking the airline to suspend the mechanism, but it was rejected for lack of sufficient background information, according to the company. Announced in Financial Daily .
Specifically, the dispute over the so-called “” is looming.new distribution capacity (English acronym NDC) was conceived by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to increase efficiency and enhance the shopping experience, and entered service on May 1.
The new methodology, as claimed by trade unions, is Suggesting discriminatory behavior regarding the use of “Global Distribution Systems (GDS)” is used in the industry and is currently charged at US$12 in Latin America.
Also, if you want to buy directly from the airline’s website, it will be considered as a purchase by a regular passenger, so you won’t get any benefit.
“This practice makes the prices of Latin America tickets that independent travel agencies can issue via the GDS (the current system) so high that they lose the potential for competition and are completely unfeasible,” said Acetto. said.
As an example, the union pointed out the following: If a Santiago-Concepcion-Santiago ticket were sold for $60,000, the company would have added almost $22,000, a 25% increase in total cost. .
Therefore, Achet said, “In reality, the NDC by Air Latin America has shown that the dominant airline engages in anti-competitive conduct and that the DOT does not allow it, which is fundamental to the airline’s business model.” It has been used to obtain accurate changes in the dynamics.” Arbitrarily discriminating and distributing indirect channels for their own benefit. “
The lawsuit was dismissed by the TDLC, but the association has announced that it will file a lawsuit against the TDLC within days.
Source: Biobiochile
