A very strange, but significant comment was noted some time ago  from both American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey and Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson. They said that they expect to see a day when distributors will pay airlines for their bookings. Yes, you got it right, there is no mistake in the  text: these gentlemen are talking about a “reversed commission” system, counting on travel agents to pay for the “privilege” of booking seats with AA and Delta. After the commission cut fight, followed by the zero commission decisions, this sounds like a bridge too far. But both gentlemen were dead serious.  Read on to get literal quotes.

Trying to clarify his comments, Arpey said: "I was simply making the observation that the paradigm in the airline business has been that historically we pay our distributors to sell our product. And that has been shifting over many years, because we have been able to cut domestic commissions, domestic overrides and booking fees.

"We’ve done that for a lot of reasons, but not the least of which is the fact that our own website, aa.com, has become our largest distribution venue, where our customers can come directly to American and book their ticket and do so without any intermediary.(…)

 I wasn’t trying to lay out a specific plan or a program, except to express the view that if we manage our capacity sensibly in this business, that I could see a day where distributors who want access to our product are paying us instead of them. And that may not come in my working lifetime, but I could see a day where that would be the paradigm."

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