TBM Staff - Mumbai Air India has restricted the sale of India-Canada tickets by travel agents in India. Travellers are being asked to book the tickets either on the Air India website or through their call centre.
However, overseas agents can sell India-Canada tickets. Even OTAs registered overseas can do it too. “It’s only travel agents in India who are being discriminated against, and TAFI members are understandably incensed,” said a TAFI release
Expressing anguish over the decision, Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, said, “We had cheered the takeover of Air India by the Tatas and we had hoped that we would see the advent of more progressive and proactive policies but we’re extremely disappointed at the persistence of this retrograde anti-agent attitude. The entire industry has suffered colossal losses over the last two years and the announcement of resumption of scheduled commercial flights had brought some joy but this discriminatory step has come as a major dampener. Agents are the extended marketing arm of an airline and to cut them off makes no sense. Air India is antagonizing Indian agents at its own peril; this is not the way to rebuild an airline.” Prakash also said that they have appealed to Chandrasekaran , Air India’ Chairman, to address this anomaly. “We are awaiting a response,” he said.
