Airlines pull back service charges

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, September 2, 2004

DALLAS – Northwest Airlines Corp. reversed a controversial service charge on travel agents Thursday after the nation’s largest carrier, American Airlines, imposed several new ticket-booking fees but declined to match the one on travel-agent transactions.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., will begin assessing a service fee of $5 or $10 to buy a ticket over the telephone or at an airport counter, copying fees Northwest announced last week.

But after American’s announcement, Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest said it would rescind a $7.50 service charge it had planned for round-trip tickets purchased through ticket distribution systems that travel agents use. American’s fee plan did not match that fee for travel-agent transactions.

American expects to reap $25 million a year from the fees, which take effect Monday.