--- description: Germany's Lufthansa airline will soon charge customers an $18 fee for flights booked through travel websites such as Expedia title: This Airline Will Charge You More for Booking on Travel Websites image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cadfe18177c4647/698852faf887dc4bbde90c57/457588206.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Aviation](/tag/aviation/) ## Aviation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Airline Will Charge You More for Booking on Travel Websites by [Benjamin Snyder / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 2:03 PM CUT  BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 21: Passenger planes of Lufthansa, Germanwings and Air Berlin stand on the tarmac at Tegel Airport on October 21, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. The three are Germany's biggest three ailrines and Germanwings is a subsidiary of Lufthansa. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 21: Passenger planes of Lufthansa, Germanwings and Air Berlin stand on the tarmac at Tegel Airport on October 21, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. The three are Germany's biggest three ailrines and Germanwings is a subsidiary of Lufthansa. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)Sean Gallup—Getty Images by [Benjamin Snyder / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 2:03 PM CUT Germany’s Lufthansa airline will soon charge customers an $18 fee for flights booked through travel websites such as Expedia, _Engadget_ [reports](http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/04/lufthansa-charging-extra-for-some-web-bookings/ "undefined"). The company is rolling out the new feature in September, which is likely to rub some consumers the wrong way. The company says it’s doing so because selling tickets on third-party sites is “several times” more expensive for the airline. “The distribution cost charge will drive up the cost of tickets booked via so-called online travel agencies like Expedia or Opodo,” Martin Riecken, a Lufthansa spokesman, told the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32990724 "undefined"). The added fee comes as Lufthansa has been struggling recently to cut costs, _Engadget_ notes. The latest move isn’t meant to “discourage anyone” from finding lower prices, the company said, but rather to help consumers get special deals only found on its own website. “If you look at Lufthansa’s recent performance, they have been through difficulties,” Laurie Price, an airline industry consultant, told the BBC. “So they’ve been looking at every way to increase their bottom line. There is only so much cutting you can do.” [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2015/06/04/lufthansa-tickets/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/"},"headline":"This Airline Will Charge You More for Booking on Travel Websites","datePublished":"2015-06-04T14:03:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:54:56.955Z","description":"The company says it's meant to help customers","url":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/","keywords":["Aviation","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cadfe18177c4647/698852faf887dc4bbde90c57/457588206.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Benjamin Snyder / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cadfe18177c4647/698852faf887dc4bbde90c57/457588206.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Passenger Planes Of German Airlines","caption":"Passenger Planes Of German Airlines","creditText":"Sean Gallup—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/","name":"This Airline Will Charge You More for Booking on Travel Websites"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Airline Quality Rating is Lowest Since 2008","description":"The quality rating says the airline industry collectively got worse in the reports four core categories.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/y43PpRtK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-13T20:33:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/y43PpRtK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/","duration":"PT1M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3908875/lufthansa-tickets/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```