The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Travel agents want transaction fee withdrawn

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Travel agents want transaction fee withdrawn

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Travel agents, who suspended sale of tickets of Singapore Airlines on Monday over a row on transaction fee, submitted a memorandum to the airline on Tuesday seeking withdrawal of the fee.

The agents are protesting against the shift from earlier commission system to the transaction fee system, implemented by some airlines since November. Agents numbering over 20 and affiliated to six travel associations arrived at Singapore Airlines office on Queen’s Road here, and submitted the memorandum to the executives here.

“The airlines have replaced commission system and introduced transaction fee, which is misleading the passengers as well as agents. While our work remains the same, commission due to us has been withdrawn. On the other hand customers are paying more for the ticket under the transaction fee system,” said P. Sampath Kumar, national managing committee member of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

He said: “Of around 60 airlines in India, 17 migrated to transaction fee regime. We have succeeded in persuading Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Emirates and Ethihad to return to commission system.”

Stating that agents had never agreed to the transaction fee system, he said, “Agents were negotiating with one airline after the other. Singapore Airlines is the first one. We do not want to mislead our customers and make them pay unfair payments.”

According to a Singapore Airlines spokesperson: “The idea behind a service-based/transaction fee is that it lets travel agents determine what is the appropriate fee for the level of service they provide to their customers, and set those fees independently of the airline.”

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