Move in response to airline's decision to stop paying agents five per cent commission on sale of tickets. Aditya Anand and Kaumudi Gurjar report
Move in response to airline's decision to stop paying agents five per cent commission on sale of tickets. Aditya Anand and Kaumudi Gurjar report
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Landed on face: Travel agents in Pune may even stop promoting Singapore as a tourism spot. |
This means that no travel agent in the country will now book a Singapore Airlines ticket for you. The airline withdrew the five per cent commission it paid to travel agents in India from December.
The tug-of-war between travel agents and foreign airlines over the issue of payment of commission has stretched for more than three months now. Over 5,000 travel agents across the country are contemplating going on a hunger strike sometime next week.
Rajinder Rai, president, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) said, "Travel agents are irked because Singapore Airlines has cut commission. The airline wants travel agent to recover the commission costs from the customer in the form of a transaction fee. We will continue our protests till Singapore Airlines revises its decision."
Amarjit Lidder, chairperson, TAAI (Pune chapter), said, "Before the standoff, according to our estimate earlier, Singapore Airlines tickets worth Rs 8 crore were sold from Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nagpur and other nearby areas, fortnightly.
"Customers mainly travelling on business trips to Los Angles, Australia and New Zealand preferred Singapore Airlines for its connectivity and the amount of time that was saved.
"But, with the airline's decision of denying the commission, we have stopped selling tickets, as the customers largely depend on travel agents. We are forced to route this load to other airlines."
Airlines that have withdrawn commission given earlier to agents in the last 100 days include British Airways, Delta, Swiss Air, KLM and Lufthansa. These foreign carriers have moved to a zero commission model. "We want to warn these carriers that if they do not reconsider their decision they will meet similar fate. And if Singapore Airlines remains firm of its stand, travel agents in Pune will stop promoting Singapore as a tourism spot," said Aditi Bhende, chairperson (Pune chapter), Travel Agents Federation of India.u00a0
C V Foo, Singapore Airlines, general manager, had earlier said, "We are committed towards continuing the dialogue process with travel agents and working towards a mutually beneficial solution."
Incidentally, the airline has aggressively been promoting booking of tickets through the Internet, and has also tied up with ICICI Bank to launch a co-branded credit card recently.
Travellers are also a disgruntled lot. Joy Basu, a frequent traveller with Singapore Airlines, has now started flying with other airlines. Basu said, "We are unhappy with the whole issue. Our company depends on the travel agents and we have little choice but to shift our preferences."
Airline ticketing in numbers
85, the percentage of total airline tickets sold by travel agents
15, the percentage sold directly by the carriers
3 to 4 per cent of international passengers book through the Internet
5,000, the approximate number of travel agents in India
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