Business travelers may be the ultimate losers in the latest scuffle between airlines and travel agents over credit card fees. United Airlines recently notified a handful of agents they can no longer sell United tickets using the airline's credit card merchant agreement.Merchants typically remit of the purchase price to the credit card company for the right to accept that credit card as a form of payment. "Merchant fees" are contractually based on the purchase price and transaction volume for each merchant. Airlines have traditionally paid those merchant fees.Though airlines are s and unbundling services formerly included in the price a ticket to survive, United is quick to reiterate that their action impacts a relatively small number of travel agencies. However, United spokesperson Robin Urbanski Janikowski also says "costs of distributing our services are significant and we will continue to reduce these costs while we run an efficient airline for our customers." Eleven Inc. is using its . stores to send a message to Washington and the credit card industry.Starting this week, the Dallas-based convenience store operator hopes to solicit 1 million signatures on petitions calling for Congress to change what the chain says are unfair and excessive credit card transaction fees.Credit card companies charge retailers a fee for every transaction. The size of the purchase doesn't matter. And retailers have no power to negotiate the fees, they say.For convenience stores alone, the fees totaled billion last year, up percent from . That's more than the billion the industry made in profit, the National Association of Convenience Stores says.Eleven, which alone paid million to credit card companies last year, is leading the lobbying effort, working with the association, which represents stores nationwide. The efforts come as the sweeping credit card rules that Congress passed go into Eleven checkout counters. Since percent of Eleven stores are owned by franchisees, the effort is a "Main Street" issue, spearheaded by small business owners, said Darren Rebelez, Eleven executive vice president and chief operating officer. The card companies merely pick a rate and then they charge away no notice, no discussion. In fact, we rarely know before we start paying higher fees that the card companies have new rates," said Keith Jones, a Eleven lobbyist. This leads many travel agents and corporate travel managers to believe this is onThis leads many travel agents and corporate travel managers to believe this is only the beginning. "It is going to be a fee that will be passed on to all travel agencies eventually," projects Randy Limbacher, president of Canyon Creek Travel American Express, based in Richardson, Texas.Certainly, they are testing the waters to see if the other carriers will join in and also promote this initiative," says Michelle De Costa, the global travel manager for Sapient Corporation. "When Delta Air Lines was the first airline to cut commissions, basically everyone followed suit," De Costa adds. "They are going to do it with some select agencies that probably don't sell a lot of United and just see what the marketplace will bear."De Costa wrote to United's chief executive officer, Glenn Tilton, to express her company's concerns. "I know that other travel managers have sent similar notes to United or other airlines to indicate their dissatisfaction with this new initiative," De Costa told me.Agencies no longer permitted to use the airline's merchant agreement may still book flights on United but they must use United's website or pay for tickets in cash. Many travel agencies already have merchant agreements with credit card companies, but they would have to absorb the merchant fee for United tickets or pass that cost along to their customers.
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