Airlines scrap agent's commission, all tickets become costlier
New Delhi, Nov 1: Airlines operating in India scrapped the five percent agent's commission on tickets, beginning Saturday, and replaced it with a transaction fee for all tickets, irrespective of whether they were booked through an agent or not.
Airlines like Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Etihad and Qatar Airways have withdrawn the commission on tickets sold by agents, while British Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Sri Lankan Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have decided to retain it.
An official of a carrier here told IANS that the commission regime would be replaced by a transaction fee upon which both the airlines and the travel agents have reached an agreement.
The transaction fee, a minimum of Rs.350 for domestic and a maximum of Rs.10,000 for international passengers, will be denoted as “other charges” on the ticket, the official said.
According to O.P. Bahadur, a senior official of the Travel Services International (TSI) - a city-based travel and ticket agency and one of the eight big travel companies across the country that make up the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) - airlines will pay travel agents the transaction fee on air tickets booked by them.
"Air tickets booked through airline websites or their offices too would attract transaction fee but that fee will be earned by the airline," Bahadur added.
About 85 percent of airline bookings in India are done through travel agents, including online agencies.
Travel agents were demanding postponement of the airlines' move to write off the commission, but the latter stuck to their decision.
Protesting against the airlines' decision, travel agents in Kerala Saturday stopped selling tickets of those operators which withdrew the commission.
IATA Agents Association of India national president Biji Eapen said the boycott was total, and all big and small agents had joined the protest.
"The biggest loser in this mode of selling tickets is the passengers, who will now have to pay a higher amount because the airlines will collect the full fare from them. And the biggest gainer would be the airlines, who will now add the five percent (commission amount) to their kitty," said Eapen.
--IANS
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Rating: This article has not been rated yet. Rate:
|
||
Jackson's Moonwalk Glove Sells For USD 350,000
Miley Cyrus' Driver Had Cardiac Arrest - Report
Bon Jovi And Sgwen Tefani Suing Bars
Noel Gallagher Attacker Pleads Guilty
Berry Gordy Honoured At Motown 50th Anniversary
Kelly Carlson's Fat Trauma
Joe Francis Too Sick For Court Appearance
John Travolta Thrilled With Street Honour
Courteney Cox Puts Cougar Town On Hold
Nicole Kidman And Kate Hudson Honour Everyday Heroes
Jackson's Moonwalk Glove For Sale
Sore Jordin Sparks Struggling To Enjoy New Number One
Stars Come Out For The Deftones
Family Issue Prompts The Cranberries To Cancel Concert
Fight Promoters Sue DMX
Judge Dismisses Assault Charges Against John Rich
John Travolta'S Family Day Out To Raise Charity Cash
Cole Slams Marriage Split Rumours
West Wing Star To Support Lopez In Dog Lawsuit
Second Autopsy Requested In Jewell Death
Lindsay Lohan Slammed By Store Over Freebie Demands
Shilpa Shetty ties the knot with Raj Kundra
7 killed, 60 injured in Assam twin blast
2 CRPF killed in Jharkhand mine blast
Gavaskar, not Sachin Tendulkar, a true Maharashtrian: Sena
Jayawardena replaces Sangakkara as No. 1 Test batsman
Sachin Tendulkar plays for BCCI, not India: Sena
Manmohan Singh arrives in Washington
'Playing Paa to Big B is difficult' : Abhishek Bachchan
'Man-woman relationship is too complicated' : Mahesh Bhatt
'70pc of my films is reality' : Madhur Bhandarkar
Jail came at the right time: Arya Babbar
'I' m only concentrating on films' : Mukesh Tyagi
'I am working on my Hindi' : Jacqueline Fernandez
'I share same energy with Ranbir': Katrina Kaif
'Don't call me 90-yr-old' : Manna Dey
'Kiss is lucky for my films': Emraan Hashmi
Manufacturing sector showing stronger signs of recovery due to stimulus: CII
Iran's Revolutionary Guards start military manoeuvres
New York man kills fellow commuter over train seat
