Most foreign airlines are yet to respond to the 10-day deadline given by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on their rules regarding the use of travel agents and their payments.
The Travel Agent’s Association of India (TAAI) met in Delhi today and decided to continue their boycott of Singapore Airlines’ tickets, on from December. “We are waiting for the DGCA to inform us about any reply they have got from the airlines in question. We will wait for another two-three days and then approach DGCA again,” said Rajjinder Rai, president of TAAI.
On June 3, DGCA had issued letters to 14 foreign airlines, asking them to explain reasons for not giving commission or remuneration to travel agents. The letter, signed by DGCA joint director R K Maheshwari, had asked for a reply within 10 days.
The DGCA raised questions over the way airlines’ structure the transaction fee and the logic behind asking agents to take commission from consumers. Later, on June 8, DGCA had sent another set of letters, adding another question on the agent’s commission. The 10-day period ended today.
Singapore Airlines said it had given its reply to DGCA, but wouldn’t say what it contained. “We will continue to keep channels open for dialogue with the associations in order to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution that would benefit all parties, including its customers,” went an SA statement.
Qatar Airways said it had responded to DGCA and so did Lufthansa. A senior official of the latter said: “ We used to pay travel agents by taking money from the customers indirectly. Now the customer can pay the agents directly, according to the efficiency level and the quality of services. We want to maintain transparency in our fare structure and that’s the reason we have asked travel agents to charge customers directly.”
