Westjet to Reduce Agency Commissions to 7 Percent

Canada’s WestJet announced it will reduce agency commissions from 9 percent to 7 percent as of July 1, but that announcement was applauded in Canada because the carrier’s original intentions were to lower agent pay to 4 percent.

The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies said it lobbied WestJet to reinstate commissions that the line intended to cut by more than half. David McCaig, ACTA president and COO, said that “we are pleased that the management team at WestJet was willing to review the benefits of the travel agency distribution model.”

Duncan Bureau, WestJet’s vice president, sales and airline partnerships, said, “We believe this new commission structure recognizes the valuable contributions of our travel agent partners while acknowledging that in this economic environment, WestJet must aggressively pursue cost-saving initiatives. WestJet thanks ACTA and its members for their candid feedback.”