Travellers are set to pay more for British Airways tickets after the airline announced last week it is reducing commission to Bermuda travel agents.

BA said it was essential to slash the commission of six to ten percent that travel agents get when selling their tickets to a flat $30 per ticket in order to drive down costs because of the dire state of the airline industry worldwide.

But travel agents warned on Saturday they will have to hike up service charges to travellers to make up for the drop in income.

BA Bermuda spokeswoman Sallie Singleton said: "We know it is a painful change and we value our relationships with travel agents in Bermuda.

"We have always worked very closely with them, but we all realise that changes need to be made in the present economy."

Most travel agents introduced service charges to customers of between $10 and $40 around five years ago after most airlines cut their commission rates from ten to six percent.

Carl Paiva, the chief executive officer of C Travel, warned yesterday his company will charge customers more service fees following the BA announcement.

"We will now have to look at our commission structure and charge (increased) service fees when we service BA tickets," he told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"Travel agents will be seeking alliances with carriers that recognise the value of travel agencies so that we can move markets to carriers that work with travel agencies.

"We won't stop selling BA tickets but we will have to have a service fee to make up the difference."

C Travel charges service fees of between $10 and $40 dollars, depending on the ticket price when it sells air tickets.

Bermuda travel agents have had commissions of ten percent percent on BA economy seats, seven percent in club seats, and six percent on first class.

In the United States, travel agents get no commission for BA tickets, and in Canada they get ten Canadian dollars. In Latin American it is six percent, and in Britain it is between $4 and $16.

BA's vice president for field sales in North America Woody Harford told The Royal Gazette that customers did not have to use travel agents and could use free alternatives such as calling the 1-800 number, or having tickets e-mailed where they not have to pay service charges.

"There are other options such as over the internet so consumers do have choices," he said. "Clearly travel agents perform a very valuable service and if consumers believe there is significant value and are willing to pay the premium they will no doubt do that, but there are other options."