MUMBAI: The battle between travel agents and foreign airlines over the issue of payment of commissions to the agents has intensified as

associations have decided to go on hunger strike from next week. More than 5,000 travel agents across the country will participate in the strike that could likely affect booking of air tickets. Travel agents account for more than 85% of any airlines’ ticket sales, while the remaining 15% are sold directly by the carriers.



Members of six associations among including the Travel Agents’ Association of India, Travel Agents Federation of India and the IATA Agents Association of India, will be meeting with Singapore Airlines officials in Colaba, Mumbai on Wednesday to break the deadlock.



“If the second round of meeting on Wednesday evening with Singapore Airlines fails to take off, then we will go for hunger strike,” said Ajay Prakash, national general secretary of the Travel Agents’ Federation of India. Travel agents are doing whatever needs to be done to bring the commission back and we are not going to budge at any cost, Mr Prakash added.



Travel agents have also put protest hoardings in Mumbai and Pune to register their protest. Meanwhile, Travel Agents’ Association has forced its West Bengal chapter chairman Devendra Parekh to resign on Monday after he agreed to sell Singapore Airlines tickets.



The associations also launched a Singapore Airlines boycott campaign where they collected more than 1,000 letters from travel agents across country. The letters called for a complete halt of bookings of Singapore Airlines. The foreign carrier flies to eight destinations in India and is one of the biggest foreign airlines flying in the country.



Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines said it would continue with talks with agents. “We are committed to continuing the dialogue process with travel agents to work towards a mutually beneficial solution,” airlines general manager CW Foo said recently. Various meetings have been held to resolve the situation where the airline has put forth proposals. The associations however persist in adopting tactics which are not in the spirit of co-operation, Mr Foo added.



The difference started when the airlines proposed a zero-commission regime. Travel agents, who were getting a 5% commission on the sale of each ticket, refused to accept the move saying it will put them out of business.



British Airways, Delta, Swiss Air, KLM and Lufthansa and others foreign carriers had moved to a zero commission model. Singapore Airlines withdrew the 5% commission paid to travel agents in India from December end.



“Compared to domestic flights, in international airlines

travel agents have to provide extra services related to passport, visa, foreign currency and insurance and a 5% commission from the foreign carriers is reasonable,” Mr Rai added. Domestic airlines in India pay a 3% commission to their travel agents.



Credit : http://www.indiatimes.com