Travel agents slap legal notices on airlines for misleading fares

Mumbai: Leading international and domestic airlines could be forced to pay higher commissions on flight tickets and stop attracting passengers with sharply discounted fares if a lobby representing travel agents succeeds in its bid to make the carriers publish what it terms “correct air fares”.
The Travel Agents’ Federation of India, or Tafi, has served a legal notice to most airlines flying into and out of the country for clubbing surcharges for fuel, insurance, security and others under the head of “taxes” instead of “basic fares”, though these are not levies paid to the government.
Tafi alleges that the objective behind separating the surcharges from the actual full fare is to stimulate passenger demand and pay lesser commission to travel agents.
The agents, who generate about 85% of the business for airlines, are shortchanged as they are entitled to a 5% commission on basic fares, says Tafi, which has about 800 members.
Tafi and another representative body, Travel Agents’ Association of India, have been in discussions with the companies for the past few months to persuade them to bring these surcharges under basic fare.
08/04/08 P.R.Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2008