Agents fight airlines with samosas, roses

Mumbai: On Monday, some travel agents decided to take their fight with Jet Airways (India) Ltd to an entirely new level—with samosas.
The agents, protesting the decision by Jet and other airlines, both Indian and international, to end from October this year a 5% commission paid on sale of tickets, sent at least a hundred boxes of samosas to the sales office of India’s largest private carrier in south Mumbai.
The airlines are doing so to cut losses. India’s airlines lost around $1 billion (Rs4,280 crore today) in 2007-08 and expect to lose almost double that this year, a consequence of soaring fuel costs. Passenger traffic, too, has begun to decline. In June, the number of passengers fell around 3% against the same month last year.
In most countries, agents earn no commission on tickets.
It is unlikely that the fried pastry containing vegetables, or meat has been used as a weapon before—not unless the idea is to kill someone with an overdose of cholesterol.
The agents also sent letters to the company, each saying that they had taken to selling samosas. “Please accept a sample of delicious samosas, which is a new line of business we are getting into, after our travel agency days are over...,” said one letter.
The letters also said the agents would offer one samosa free for every 10 that the airline bought, “with no other hidden costs or surcharges”, a reference to the fuel and other surcharges on air tickets that are levied by airlines.
“This is just the beginning. We will be sending roses to other airlines. It could be National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, that runs Air India, or other domestic airlines...,” said a travel agent, who does not want to be named.
15/07/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jul 2008