Travel agents won't sell Jet tickets, want commission system back

Travel agents' associations Monday decided to stop selling tickets of India's leading private airline Jet Airways and its sister carrier JetLite from Dec 4, protesting against the air operators' decision to scrap a five percent agents' commission.

The six major travel agents associations met here to discuss the ongoing impasse between the agents and airlines over the commission fee issue. They also urged other carriers to restore the commission system at the earliest.

"It is our right to claim commission on basic fares and all other charges for our services were already reduced," Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) president Rajender Rai told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting was attended by heads of the travel agents' associations, including the Travel Agents Federation of India and IATA Agents Association of India.

"We (travel agents) are still not getting any commission from airlines," said Rai.

Officials said 15 airlines have scrapped the commission Nov 1 while some of them have replaced it with a new transaction fee system. This, according to the airlines, would ensure that the agents get their share.

On their decision to boycott Jet carriers, Rai said the airline had recently said it would bring down the airfares by withdrawing transaction fee, leaving the agents in trouble.

"To start with, travel agents will not sell tickets of Jet Airways and JetLite for all domestic and international routes, until the airline meets our demand," Rai said.

The major airlines are expected to meet travel agents' representatives to find a way out to the impasse, but no formal decision has been announced in this regard.

"We have not taken any decision as of now. The management has to take a decision in this regard," a Jet Airways spokesperson said.

About 85 percent of airline bookings in India are done through travel agents, including online agencies.

Last updated on Dec 1^st, 2008 at 21:01 pm IST--IANS