Credit card data is not the best source for airline sourcing projects. I’ve said this for a long time, but was recently challenged (nicely) by Jacques Lionnet at AirPlus to take a fresh look at AIM, the AirPlus Information Manager (AIM) tool.
For years airlines have made statements that the merchant fees that they pay when they accept cards as a form of payment were ‘next on the list’ of distribution costs that would be in focus. And more recently we are beginning to see evidence that this is true with examples such as United Airlines' reported change of policy when it comes to [some] travel management companies' use of their merchant agreement and KLM’s announcement of a credit card surcharge of EUR 7.50 being debated.
