DALLAS – United Airlines has caused an uproar among travel agents with plans to force them to the pay credit-card fees when their customers buy tickets with plastic.

The agents say it’s an unfair move by United to shift a cost of its business on to their backs. They add that if other airlines copy United’s move, it will end up costing consumers because agents will pass along the fee.

United, the nation’s third-largest airline, sent notices to some travel agents in the past two weeks saying that beginning July 20, they must pay the credit-card fee when leisure or corporate customers buy tickets with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or another card.

In the notice, a United vice president told the agencies to report the sale to the airline as a cash transaction. He warned that agencies that try to assign the credit-card processing fee to United’s account would be dinged $75 per ticket.

Credit card companies charge, on average, between 2 percent and 2.5 percent of the transaction amount per card swipe, said Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst Scott Valentin. He noted the fee a card company will charge a merchant varies by the size of the transactions and number of transactions completed each month.

So for example, a credit card company might charge a smaller fee per transaction for Wal-Mart than it would a local mom-and-pop store.

United won’t say how many travel agencies got the notice or exactly how they were selected. Some agents believe United picked on smaller agencies or ones that do little business with United to minimize the hard feelings if the airline drops the plan.

The move could push agencies to buy tickets for their customers on United’s Web site rather than using one of the global airline ticket distribution systems such as Sabre and Galileo. That would force United to foot the credit-card fees but avoid paying fees to the distribution systems.

It’s easy to see why United would consider such a move.

United parent UAL Corp. lost $382 million in the first quarter after losing $5.35 billion last year, and some airline analysts rank it behind only US Airways in having the greatest risk of falling into bankruptcy protection.

Chicago-based United has been aggressively cutting costs to match a steep decline in traffic, especially in lucrative first- and business-class tickets. Like other airlines, it has imposed fees on baggage and other items, and expects to raise $1.1 billion this year with those charges.

“Credit-card processing costs are escalating at a high rate and represent several hundred million dollars each year,” says United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. “We’re exploring ways in the current economic environment to reduce our costs and run an efficient airline.”

The move has drawn opposition from the American Society of Travel Agents and the Business Travel Coalition, whose leaders say they will ask federal and state officials to investigate possible collusion if other airlines follow United’s lead.

Kevin Mitchell, president of the travel coalition, called United’s move a trial balloon, comparing it to an effort by Northwest Airlines to impose a distribution-cost surcharge on travel agents in 2004. Northwest backed down.

Travel agents, who were forced to adapt when airlines took away their commissions on tickets several years ago, say forcing them to pay United’s credit-card fees on merchants is a step too far.

“The credit card fee should be a cost of doing business by the maker of the product, whether it’s an airline or a store,” says Jean Covelli, president of The Travel Team Inc., an agency in Buffalo, N.Y.

Agents say they will be forced to pass the fee on to their customers, and it’s not spare change.

“We have multimillion-dollar accounts, so you can see what a 3 percent fee would do,” says Covelli.

Agents also said consumers wouldn’t be able to get their credit card company to resolve a dispute with United because the card transaction would be through the agent instead.

Chris Russo, owner of Travel Partners in Colorado, said United’s goal might be to shift more ticket sales to its own Web site, something airlines have been trying to do for years.

“We look at this as a very large threat to our ability to compete at selling airline tickets,” Russo said. “We are their largest distribution system, but we’re also the one they think costs them the most money.”

Russo says if United’s plan sticks, he’ll have to shift more of his work to selling cruises, tours and vacation packages, something he started doing when commissions were cut.

“We’ll have to reinvent ourselves again, but we’ll survive,” the travel agent says. “We were supposed to be gone a long time ago.”

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Associated Press Business Writer Stephen Bernard in New York contributed to this report.

BANGKOK — Thai Airways is trying to lure passengers from outside Asia with free domestic flights. Hotels on the resort island of Phuket are offering a fourth night free. And mountain lodges up north are offering free golf and spa pampering.

Facing its worst crisis in years, Thailand’s tourism industry is going to great lengths to drum up business that has plunged thanks to political upheaval, the global recession — and now swine flu fears.

Foreign traveler arrivals have fallen 16 percent so far this year, while hotel occupancy across the country has dropped to 44 percent, down from 66 percent last year. Luxury hotels in Bangkok have even lower occupancy rates.

“I don’t see any positive factors,” said Kongrit Hiranyakit, head of the Tourism Council of Thailand. “Oil prices are increasing, influenza is spreading all over the world. Political protests are bad for the country’s image.”

He expects the tourism industry will lose about 200 billion baht ($5.6 billion), down by more than a third from about 540 billion baht last year.

To offset the drop-off in visitors from abroad, Thailand is promoting domestic tourism — and hotels are offering rock-bottom discounts to Thai residents. The government is extending a holiday next week to get Thais on the road. It has also cut airport landing fees and offered low-interest loans to small businesses catering to tourists.

But many fear recovery is a long way off for the industry that employs 2.5 million people and is a pillar of the economy, which has already slid into a recession.

So far, the slump has not led to big job losses, but many hotels have put employees on temporary leave without pay. Thai hotels and restaurants had 100,000 fewer seasonal workers in March than they did in February.

“There’s been a push to hold on to people,” said Dale Lawrence, communications director of the Bangkok-based Pacific Asian Travel Association. “Thailand has learned from past crises that if they let too many people go they are desperately short of trained people when the industry recovers.”

For tourists who do visit the “Land of Smiles,” there are plenty of good deals.

Thai Airways is offering its inbound passengers from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand a free round-trip domestic ticket through October.

Budget carrier AirAsia is selling tickets from Bangkok to points around the country for as little as $10 for trips after October.

As part of a nationwide campaign called “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale,” Bangkok’s glitziest shopping malls are slashing prices on many goods by 20 to 70 percent.

High-end hotels are offering extra incentives rather than cutting rates.

The Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok is offering a special package that includes a 3,500-baht ($100) bar and restaurant credit — and a free second night at any Peninsula hotel around the world.

The Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, a five-star resort in Thailand’s mountainous north, includes a free round of golf and an 80-minute spa session with a two-night stay — but that still costs around $1,200 per couple.

Thailand’s image as an easygoing tropical getaway has been marred by political upheaval.

The troubles started last November when anti-government protesters shut down Bangkok’s two airports for a week, stranding thousands. Then in April, a rival group of demonstrators broke into a summit of Asian leaders in the beach town of Pattaya and later clashed with riot police in Bangkok’s streets, leaving two dead.

The turmoil has calmed down and most of the country is quiet — save flares of violence in the Muslim insurgency in the far south of the Buddhist-dominated country. But the recent outbreak of flu in the region has added to the gloom.

Thailand has reported three swine flu deaths and some 1,300 cases, most of whom have recovered. The tally is one of the highest reported in the region but less than Australia’s 3,500 swine flu cases and a fraction of the 21,000 in the United States.

“Visitors to Thailand from neighboring countries, while not bothered by politics, may be scared off by swine flu,” Kongrit said. “Asian tourists are quite afraid to travel.”

Business is normally slower from June through October because of rainy season, but this year is particularly sluggish.

The luxury hotels seem to be hit hardest, with many in Bangkok reporting occupancy of around 40 percent.

“Business is as bad as ever,” said tailor Nuttha Lertthasanawong, sitting in her shop across from the top-flight Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Before the slump, 50 customers, primarily from Europe, would order suits on any given day.

Now, “some days just two people come in — and they are just looking around,” she said.

Budget travel hasn’t suffered as badly, with beer stalls and hostels along Bangkok’s Khao San Road and other havens for backpackers still bustling.

“We are still fully booked every day and are offering no special deals,” said Bern Poednie of Julie’s Guest House in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Authorities are hoping that Thai vacationers will help fill the gap by traveling around the country.

“The panic of the flu has made a lot of Thai people nervous to travel overseas,” said Suraphon Sawetsaranee, deputy governor of the government-run Tourism Authority of Thailand. “Taking vacation is a way to get away from the economic and political crises.”

NEWPORT, R.I. – Scott Greenberg reached the breaking point of frustration when he was slapped with a $25 ticket for unwittingly leaving his Honda Accord in a spot reserved for Newport residents.

He fired off an angry letter to city officials, calling Newport the “wild west of parking” and expressing a sarcastic gratitude for the warm welcome. He vowed never to return.

“I tried to do it exactly right. I don’t want to go on vacation and get aggravated. I go on vacation so I don’t get aggravated,” Greenberg, 51, who runs a wholesale fishing tackle distributor in Shandaken, N.Y., said in an interview.

Drivers navigating the warren of narrow, one-way streets of downtown Newport have long endured a frustrating, pound-the-dashboard fight for parking, particularly during the peak summer season when the city swells with tourists and the daily demand for spaces — roughly 20,000 — far outpaces the supply of 6,000 downtown public and private spots.

Business leaders, environmentalists and city officials have been brainstorming solutions, discussing in particular a streetcar or trolley system that could link visitors from downtown to beaches, hotels and major attractions like the historic Gilded Age mansions and the Cliff Walk hiking path.

The goal is to not only ease congestion but also appease the more than 3 million annual visitors who are vital to the city’s economy.

“To me, parking is the No. 1 issue that impacts quality of business and quality of life in this city,” said Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the push for a trolley system. “And the future of Newport is tied to a comprehensive management and public transportation plan.”

Details like permits and funding haven’t been worked out, and the conversations are still preliminary. But the proposal reflects a broader effort to solve a problem that’s long bedeviled this colonial city, whose 8-square-miles are already largely built out or protected lands.

The one major parking garage in the downtown isn’t well marked. There’s no subway system that connects major sites and public buses can get ensnared in traffic.

The chamber has taken steps recently to crystallize a streetcar proposal that has been floated for several years, tallying for the first time the number of available private and public parking spaces in the downtown. It’s also been studying alternatives including valet parking, improved signage and expanding existing parking lots.

Stokes said he envisions a trolley system as privately operated and at least partially federally funded.

The chamber and city officials have discussed running it along America’s Cup Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, two congested state highways that cut through Newport. Stokes said the system should be environmentally friendly — with rubber tires and natural gas or electricity.

The trolleys would also need a designated lane to avoid getting stuck in traffic, an inconvenience affecting buses operated by Rhode Island’s public transit authority.

“Getting them from point A to point B quicker than if they took their vehicle or walked is a necessity for them to ride this people mover,” said Paige Bronk, Newport’s director of planning, zoning, development and inspection.

Though a modern streetcar system may seem out-of-place with the city’s colonial appeal, officials say it could actually be a throwback to the early 20th century, when trolleys operated in the city. Plus, Bronk said, there’s nothing quaint about the city’s traffic.

“Does four lanes of automobile congestion, is that in keeping with the colonial period? It’s not,” he said. “Is a highway downtown in keeping with the colonial era? It’s not.”

The issue is personal to Stokes, a lifelong Newport resident who collects letters from disgruntled visitors. Frustrated drivers overstay at meters or park in spots reserved for residents. Private lots hike up their rates at night, and motorists can get stuck behind a driver inching like a tortoise in a vain pursuit of an open spot.

The city takes in roughly $900,000 a year from parking tickets, said city Finance Director Laura Sitrin.

Locals deal with the problem, too.

“I have a business in town, and people sneak into my parking,” said Donna Karlovich, 52, who runs the Historic Hill Inn. “It’s tough. I feel for them because there’s only so many spots.”

Greenberg said Newport shouldn’t be a hassle to the same out-of-towners whose business it’s trying to court.

“I like that area, I’m just trying to make a point,” Greenberg said. “You don’t feel welcome when you have to worry about stuff like that.”