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Airlines waive-off agent fee, replaces it with transaction fee
Airlines operating in India have abandoned the five percent commission fee of agents on tickets. This has been replaced by a transaction fee for all tickets, irrespective of whether they are booked through an agent or in person.
The Air-India, Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, Kingfisher, Qatar Airways and Etihad have withdrawn the commission on tickets sold by agents, while the Emirates, British Airways, Oman Air, Gulf Air, Malaysian Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines continue to retain it.
The transaction fee will be a minimum of Rs.350 for domestic, and maximum of Rs.10,000 for international passengers, and will be charged in the form of “other charges” on the ticket, revealed an airline official.
According to a city-based travel and ticket agency TSI, one of the eight big travel companies, constituting the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), the airlines will pay the travel agents the transaction fee on air tickets booked by them.
Even the air tickets booked through the airline websites or their offices will attract transaction fee, but the fee will be earned by the airline.
Currently about 85 percent of airline bookings in India are being done through travel agents, including the online agencies.
According to the National President of IATA Agents Association of India, Biji Eapen, the most affected with this system would be the passengers, as the airlines will collect full fare from them and they will end-up paying a higher amount.
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