In a strange move, YTB has left Travelocity as the provider for their booking engine and switching to Orbitz.
Of course this means that they have now eliminated American Airlines from the number of airlines they can sell.
Kim Sorensen mentioned that there is a "commission" (actually a fee) of $2.50 that the RTAs can share for each ticket sold. 60% of $2.50 is $1.50. The other change is that they now have the ability to have customer profiles. This sounds like the standard Orbitz For Business program.
If YTB were a legitimate travel company, they would be able to negotiate upfront commissions with m any carriers and a backend override. But the reality is that IATA decided they were fraudulently using their accreditation and blacklisted them from the airline industry. Now all they can do is behave like any other corporation and sign up for an affiliate program and sublet that out to the people who paid to become a "travel agent".
Kim also mentioned that there are differences in how Orbitz pays and advised there would be many glitches going forward!
