Finally after considerable speculation, British Airways and Iberia have written to the travel agents to indicate they will levy a surcharge on bookings made via the GDS. The surcharge will incentivise travellers to book with those travel agents that use direct connection technology over a GDS or to move to the airlines own websites. British Airways will also provide an agent portal for bookings for those that do not have direct connect technology. This move has been anticipated for some time and is not a surprise.