Travel agents face uncertainty over transaction fee issue

A day after the Calcutta High Court passed an interim order lifting the status quo on airlines stopping the commission of travel agents, uncertainty and confusion looms large on their fate.

A day after the Calcutta High Court passed an interim order lifting the status quo on airlines stopping the commission of travel agents, uncertainty and confusion looms large on their fate.

A few weeks ago, travel agents and airlines had discussed the possibility of introducing a transaction fee on the ticket price once the commission system is scrapped.

The transaction fee could range from Rs 350 to Rs 2,500 depending on the cost of the ticket.

8220;From November 1, four airlines 8212;- Jet Airways, Air India, Kingfisher and Singapore Airlines 8212;- have added transaction fee as a ticket component which will be given to us,8221; said Anil Punjabi, chairperson, Travel Agents Federation of India Eastern India.

While Air India has already started charging the fee at its counters and website, Kingfisher, Singapore Airlines and Jet Airways have not introduced the new system on their websites yet, Punjabi added.

8220;Airlines have said that they will keep transaction fee equivalent to travel agents till December 31, 2009. After that, tickets purchased directly from airlines and the ones purchased from travel agents will be of different rates,8221; Punjabi said.

Travel agents fear that the new system might go the US way where agents were forced to keep higher fee, while airlines came up with lower fares on their websites.

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8220;Of the 15 airlines who had decided on the zero per cent commission, only six have agreed to the transaction fee system. We might have to stop selling tickets of a few airlines soon,8221; said Punjabi.

Air France, Northwest Airlines and KLM are some of the airlines that have not agreed to follow the new system.

8220;There is no system of commission anywhere in the world. We have decided to charge the transaction fee only for 14 months to give some time to travel agents. We cannot do it for ever, as zero commission is a major cost-cutting method for airlines,8221; said an Air India official.