TRAVEL AGENTS START CHARGING FEES

Two of the largest and most influential travel agencies in the world, American Express and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, will start charging customers fees for writing tickets. The move, which many agencies are expected to follow, is a response to a decision by seven major U.S. airlines to end their 10 percent commissions to travel agents, who make 85 percent of U.S. plane reservations. The airlines say they will pay agents just $25 per one-way domestic ticket and $50 per round-trip fare instead. To help make up the losses, Carlson Wagonlit will charge a $15 service fee beginning Apr. 1, and American Express will charge $20 for domestic tickets priced under $300 starting Mar. 6. "Many customers may now refuse to go to agents and pay the fee and instead do the homework themselves," says TIME business reporter Bernard Baumohl. Some airlines, he adds, are already encouraging customers to bypass agents and turn to online or airline-run "ticketless" reservation services. "This probably means that lots of agencies will go out of business," Baumohl says.