Come April, agents plan flat fee on air tickets

If you are a frequent traveller and use the services of a travel agent, your bill is likely to see a rise this summer, provided travel agents have their way.

Travel agents across the country are planning to impose a flat service fee on air tickets issued or cancelled. The fee is expected to range from Rs 100 to Rs 250 for domestic tickets and Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 for international tickets.

The country's two prominent travel agent associations-Travel Agents' Federation of India (TAFI) and Travel Agents' Association of India (TAAI)-have reached a consensus on imposing the service fee from April 1. Sources said that the exact details of the plan were yet to be finalised.

The fee would be imposed in addition to the variable processing charges which customers would already have paid for a ticket.

When contacted,TAFI General Secretary Ajay Prakash confirmed the development. "The average commission of 5 per cent from airlines for international and domestic tickets is not sufficient to run the travel agency business in a changing environment. Besides, online portals and Internet booking engines of airlines are posing a serious threat to our business," Prakash said.

TAFI has a member base of over 1,800, including 1,000 International Air Travel Association (IATA) recognised agents. TAAI has a similar membership. India has over 2,500 IATA agents and over 80 per cent of them are members of the two associations.

M Iqbal Mulla, managing committee Member, TAAI, said the proposed service fee would enable them to diversify the business into other areas such as hotel room booking, car rentals and offering tour packages.

Industry sources said airlines are offering 5 to 20 per cent commission to on-line portals as they are purchasing tickets in bulk in advance.

"Though the service fee will adversely impact the travel agents, they are planning to offer a composite service for ticketing including tour packages and forex services for a traveller," analysts said.