COMPETITION ISSUES IN AIR TICKET SALES 285 passengers who book their flights with a travel agency using a GDS, the GDSs themselves and other air carriers’ offers, which become more attractive when they do not charge any DCC. Thus, the impacts of a DCC are not limited to certain countries or specific flight routes, and so the internal market of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Switzerland has to be regarded as the relevant market, making LH’s market shares in Austria’s ticketing market irrelevant. LH’s market share for flights within EEA and Switzerland is 11.95%, its market share for flights departing or arriving in EEA or Switzerland is 11.30%, while its market share in global flight services is 3.13%. However, LH’s market share for ticket sales in Austria is about 25 to 35 per cent, and, if third party sales are included, it rockets to a minimum of 60%, up to 70%. The sale of flight services amounts to more than 50% of the turnover of Austria’s travel agencies (including tour organisers), with 70 to 75 per cent of the bookings being made with LH. Nevertheless, competition authorities in Germany and Switzerland did not see any indication for any abuse of a dominant market position, and Austria’s competition authority did not even open any investigative procedures. 2.4. Differences in Ticket Prices LH’s ticket prices are connected to the place of departure rather than the place of booking. The relevant data (price points, flight schedules, capacities, booking classes, etc.) are transmitted to the GDS where the offers are generated based on these data. However, booking requests are not transmitted in a real-time system, and thus, the geographical distance or different query frequencies can lead to deviations in the price for a specific flight. When booked through a GDS, the price for the same flight at the same time may actually be different if booked in an Austrian travel agency, as opposed to an agency in Germany or Switzerland. Such differences have been detected in a GRZ-FRA-GRZ flight3, in which the price was 65% higher when booked in Austria, comparing to a booking made in Berlin. The differences are caused by a defect of the GDS, of which LH has been aware for a couple of years, not having, however, taken any measures to avoid them. LH has only established a complaint system, which, upon related complaint, allows bookings at the lower price. Needless to say that, in order to take advantage of the complaint system, the customer has to be aware of the price differences and the existence of the system. 3 A route LH is the only provider of and which had to be regarded as a distinct market.
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