Northwest Airlines today
announced changes to the distribution cost reduction initiative that it
announced on Aug. 24, 2004. The initiative was part of an effort to align
the airline’s cost of distributing tickets with those of the low-cost
carriers it increasingly competes with for today’s traveler. Effective immediately, Northwest has withdrawn its US$3.75/CAD$4.75 one-
way, US$7.50/CAD$9.50 roundtrip per-ticket “Shared GDS Fee” incurred by
travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada, for tickets on travel in the 50
United States, which use a Global Distribution System (GDS) to issue
tickets on Northwest.

Northwest also announced other changes to the fees it announced on Aug. 24.

Effectively immediately, the $5 “Call Center Ticketing Fee,” originally on
tickets for travel in the U.S. purchased through one of Northwest’s
reservations call centers, is expanded to include all tickets issued by
one of the airline’s U.S. call centers, including tickets for
international travel.

The US$10/CAD$13 “Airport Ticketing Fee,” originally on domestic tickets
issued at Northwest airport locations in the U.S. and Canada, is expanded
to all tickets issued by the airline at all airport locations in the U.S.
and Canada, including tickets for international travel.

In addition, fees that originally applied only to domestic WorldPerks
frequent flyer program award tickets are expanded to include all award
tickets issued by the airline in the U.S. or Canada.

All tickets purchased through the airline’s Web site, http://www.nwa.com/
, do not include ticketing fees.

The airline also said that tickets for members of its WorldPerks program
who achieve “Platinum Elite” status will not include the Call Center
Ticketing Fee or Airport Ticketing Fee on either paid or WorldPerks award
tickets. WorldPerks members achieve Platinum Elite status by flying 75,000
qualifying miles or 60 qualifying flight segments in a calendar year.

Tickets for unaccompanied minors (travelers that are five to 14 years of
age), are also exempt from the ticketing fees, effective immediately. The
fee is also waived for travelers ages 15-17 who pay the fee for
Northwest’s unaccompanied minor service.
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