Airline travel agents to earn commission till Nov

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Airline companies, which had earlier decided to scrap the 5% commission of travel agents from October, have deferred the decision till November 2008. In a recent meeting between travel agent associations and airlines, the former had asked leading air carriers of the country like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines to postpone their move till the beginning of the next financial year.

A spokesperson of Air India confirmed that airlines will scrap the 5% commission given to travel agents from November 1, instead of October 1, as proposed earlier. Unhappy that the airlines have postponed their decision to enforce a zero commission regime only by a month and not till May 2009, travel agent associations are now contemplating legal action against players like Air India.

According to Praveen Chugh, president, Travel Agent Federation of India, Air India, which is the chairman of the Board of Airline Representatives had given it in writing to travel agents in May 2005 that the 5% commission will not be reduced or removed before four years. "We will take legal action against airlines as they are not honouring the contract given to us," he said. However, according to the Air India spokesperson, the present notice (to do away with the commission from November 2008) overrides all the past notices.

Apart from approaching the courts, travel agents across the country may also go on nationwide strikes boycotting the ticket inventory of a particular airline for a few days to protest against the move. "This time around we will get really offensive if the airlines do not comply. Air India is already in a vulnerable position right now and the strike if undertaken for even two days will hit them really hard," thumped Ravinder Rai, vice-president, Travel Agents Association of India. About 85% of the air ticket inventory in the country is sold through travel agents in the country. Since the time airlines announced their decision to scrap the commission completely, travel agents have been up in arms against the move as a major chunk of their revenue comes from air ticket bookings. Airlines, on the other hand, are looking at this as a cost cutting measure given the huge losses they are incurring recently.