TORONTO — With all the new-to-industry advisors coming into the industry – and with so many travellers experiencing booking-overload – is now the time for experienced agents to attract new clients with their air-booking prowess?
It’s an industry talking point with a lot of history. After the airline commission caps and cuts in the late-1990s and early 2000s, and with Air Canada’s cut as recently as this summer, over the years some agency owners decided their business model could no longer sustain air bookings.
It comes down to time, and resources, as one Ontario-based advisor told Travelweek. “We can’t keep up with demand [at our agency], and we have to allocate our time wisely.”
It’s not just commission levels. NDC is still a big stumbling block. Advisor concerns about the lack of functionality with NDC platforms keep coming, after years of IATA and the airlines steering agencies to NDC bookings, often with a carrot-and-stick approach with a fee for non-NDC bookings.
Then there are the debit memos. Advisors say they’re seeing higher-than-average volumes of airline debit memos, up to 10 a day at one Ontario agency. “Normally we’d get maybe 10 a month,” said the owner. Another owner out west said she’s seeing more debit memos especially for booking segments out of sequence. “We’re careful not to do this generally, but agents occasionally make a mistake and forget. These types of debit memos were almost never issued in the past. I believe everything is automated now and nothing gets through. Any little thing is caught.”
OWNING THE TRIP
What’s an experienced agent to do? This is how travel advisor Danny Jarvis sees it: “If you’re not booking the flight, you’re not owning the trip. And if you’re not owning the trip, you risk losing the client.”
Jarvis told Travelweek that he’s always booked air. He learned on the GDS, training on Galileo back when he started in the industry at age 17. “To me I don’t consider it a lot of work or effort, just because I’ve been doing complex airfare bookings for a long time,” he said.
Jarvis’ advice for airlines, to encourage more advisors to come back to air bookings: “The best thing the airlines could do is stop cutting commission, or pay commission where they don’t, and stop with the differing prices. Like, when a fare on Sabre is more expensive for the exact same fare versus on the airline’s websites.”
“I AM VERY AWARE OF THE INDUSTRY CHANGES”
Agency owner John Castell also knows his way around the GDS. “As a GDS user I can complete an air only booking for a repeat client very, very quickly,” he told Travelweek. He’s tried the NDC platforms. “I am very aware of the industry changes and I am fearful of the airlines moving away from the GDS. It allows me to fix bookings with schedule changes, and alter bookings.”
Castell told Travelweek he has been a top 50 agency for six of his eight years with Envoyage, with very high volumes of air bookings, but also with one of the lowest margins.
“Airlines could get back to paying a bit more commission, or at the very least, creating net fares with a plus-up option, which will allow us to create a margin,” said Castell.
Air can be complex and time consuming, says Envoyage’s National Marketing Manager, Heather Baker, “so it’s understandable that some advisors choose not to make it part of their business.”
For others though, “it can be a real advantage particularly when clients want one trusted expert looking after the whole trip.” Envoyage’s resources include in-house air agreements, a dedicated ticketing support team and an advisor community with “deep air expertise. That support can help with changes, refunds, waivers, and other issues that can otherwise take a long time to resolve.”
Trevello’s approach is similarly realistic. “We recognize why some advisors have moved away from air. Historically, the process could be time-consuming, complicated and difficult to monetize. That is exactly the problem we set out to solve,” said CEO Zeina Gedeon, adding that Trevello has its own air booking platform aimed at making booking air faster, more intuitive and commercially worthwhile.
“We don’t believe every advisor must sell air, but we do believe advisors should have access to a platform that makes it a compelling option,” said Gedeon.
“EVERY TRAVEL AGENCY OPERATES DIFFERENTLY”
Airlines say they want to make it as easy as possible for their advisor partners to book air. Air Canada has its B2B direct NDC booking platform, AC Connex. “On this platform, we offer our best content, and there is no risk of errors or debit memos,” said Françios Choquette, Air Canada’s Head of Global Sales.
Porter spokesperson Brad Cicero says Porter’s goal is to maintain a collaborative relationship with advisors and support their work.
WestJet Group’s take?: “Every travel agency operates differently, and we respect that advisors know what works best for their clients and their business. However, when an agency chooses to work with us, our focus remains on providing the tools, reliable service and strong partnership they need to succeed.”
NDC & COMMISSION Q&A
NDC and commissions were on the table at an airline forum in Toronto earlier this week.
The underlying message at that event, from Air Canada, along with Atlantic Joint Venture partners United Airlines and Lufthansa Group, was that NDC may not be the ideal way to book for every agency – and that’s okay. Increasingly airlines sound as though they’re determined to meet advisors where they’re at.
“Even though NDC has been around for a few years, we still have a long way to go to make it work the way we want it to, both from an airline perspective and an agency perspective,” said Lufthansa Group’s Christina Meakin at the forum.
Meakin added that all airlines need to provide more transparency and clarity around GDS aggregators and what they can do for agencies in NDC, as well as the different travel tech providers available.
“WE WANT TO BE ON THE SHELF, WHEREVER YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS”
Three years after Air Canada’s 2023 NDC rollout, Air Canada’s Director, Corporate Sales, Ana Paula de Souza, said Air Canada is focused on staying front and centre with agents, however they want to book.
“At the end of the day, we want to be on the shelf wherever you want to do business with us,” said de Souza. “If you want to work through the GDS, through an NDC channel or another option, that’s your choice. As long as you’re selling Air Canada, we’re happy.”
She added: “We will continue moving forward with modern retailing because that’s where we can make more of our content and services available. But it’s ultimately the agency’s decision how it wants to sell Air Canada.”
“WE’VE HAD TO ADAPT EVERYWHERE”
One travel advisor at the forum asked about “the elephant in the room”: commission levels.
“We need to make sure the business remains sustainable and that we’re here for the long term,” said de Souza. “When fuel prices are at the levels we’re seeing today, it becomes even more difficult. I’m not saying the trade should have to pay that bill. We have had to make difficult decisions across every level of the company, including with our employees and with projects that we had planned. We’ve had to adapt everywhere in order to remain sustainable.”
De Souza thanked advisors “for sticking with us. There is a lot of investment happening that will ultimately benefit our mutual customers.”
This article appears in the Sept. 24, 2026 edition of Travelweek; click here.
