Travel agents set to recover commissions from October
30 Jun 2008
Mumbai: Domestic and international airfares will be costlier by another 5 per cent from October with travel agents set to recover this amount as commission on the base fare. As a cost saving measure, flag carrier, Air India along with the largest domestic private carrier, Jet Airways, have already discontinued the practise.
The Kingfisher/Deccan combine is reported to be considering making a similar move.
Commission is the amount paid by airlines to agents for booking tickets on their distribution systems.
If agents succeed in recovering their commissions then the price of tickets would be impacted by an additional Rs200-1000 (based on current prices) along with service charges per ticket on domestic and international sectors.
According to industry sources, almost 80 per cent of airline tickets are sold through agents in India. Hoping to do away with commissions, airlines expect to save about Rs500 crore collectively from the move.
