US Airways, Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on Wednesday joined most of the other major airlines in reducing commissions they pay travel agents to 8 percent.
The action left only Southwest and Trans World Airlines as the major carriers that have not cut the commissions, less than three years after airlines said that the maximum they’d pay for booking a round-trip domestic flight is $50.
United Airlines started the move last week, when it announced it was unilaterally cutting the commission to 8 percent from 10 percent in an effort to save as much as $100 million annually.
Travel agents, reacting angrily to the cuts, have been running ads in major newspapers warning the cuts will hurt consumers’ ability to get the best ticket price.
