Sabre Travel Network has stated in an email to subscribers that American Airlines through its new commitment policy had "threatened" some travel agents with a new fee of $5.50 per segment booked through a GDS.
American wants travel agents to accept its direct-connect strategy "or face the consequences: less than full content through the GDS and a new fee”. However American says that since “Sabre announced in January that it intended to remove American's fares from its system, our sales team has been visiting with our agency and corporate partners to inform them about options to continue to get American's content, should Sabre or another GDS disrupt or remove it".
The statement added that AA has “told agencies about how American will adjust our existing Source Premium Policy to accommodate expected changes in our GDS agreements later this summer.