Travel Agents and IATA
Open letter from Mexico to travel agents: Run away from IATA!
For the last several years, the messiah of Miami has manipulated IATA [International Air Transport Association]. All Latin American countries have been tyrannized by arrogance and bad treatment. Laws and rules that airlines made for their commercial relationship with travel agencies are not respected and obeyed by IATA employees, and they accommodate such rules and laws to their own needs, according to each region.
A few decades ago, in order to be a prestigious travel agency you had to obtain your IATA permission, it was a priority to have such permit, which meant having the great honor to issue airline tickets. (In Mexico, at the beginning, the permission was only for international tickets, and then at the end of the 20th century, IATA included domestic tickets.
It was a must, a fundamental issue of essential quality to all of those wanting to do a professional job.
Those who didn´t do the "IATA authorization" were considered inferior (or agency without prestige) and were considered bad and risky. Paying on time was fundamental to preserve such quality. Perhaps the only reason you would lose an IATA authorization if you didn’t do so. The rest was easy to overcome.
Then one day the rules changed. Rules that were made by the worldwide airline officials to generate a balance in their relationship with travel agencies were broken.
Justice is a thing of the past in the organization. What is IATA to travel agencies these days? A group of arrogant employees that do not listen to anyone and to any reason, fitting the rules to their own convenience and act in a partial way with travel agencies, with a double standard moral, since what it is accepted from some agencies, it is not from others and if you is not subjugate to their principles, you end up losing the ticketing.
That is enough! Some travel agents said that some time ago, and others are following them these days.
To many people’s surprise, back in 1994 Mexico had more than 5,200 credited agencies. In the last 15 years, that number has been decreasing, and it has come to a point that up to this year of 2009, there are left only 1,500 travel agencies left. Perhaps less, according to IATA numbers, including branches and in-plants. The industry thought the decline in number was normal due to the cut down in commissions, the lack of incentives and for the low income, etc.
But that was not the case. We can now see a huge amount of travel agencies, more than 1,300 that are working without an IATA permit. They say they got tired of being abused, of debit memos, fines, unjustified charges and the lack of availability and indolence.
And yes, let’s thank consolidators (ticketing wholesalers) that arrived in Mexico, as they have cured the headache of those travel agencies for that miserable 1 percent. Consolidators pay more, do not send debit memos and do not threaten travel agents. They manage commercially because they want to do business. Now confirmed data reveals that between the two major consolidators (wholesalers) in Mexico, more than 1,600 registered agencies are buying directly from them. And now with e-tickets becoming the standard, no one knows who is issuing tickets.
So, what is the benefit for travel agencies being affiliated with IATA these days? Nothing. The reputation of an agency comes from the quality of its service. Airlines do not even recognize the “IATA card” as an official ID anymore.
It is worth mentioning some cases that are hurting travel agencies nowadays. Like the one that received an unsuitable debit memo and refused to pay, so IATA took away the agency’s ticketing privilege.
And like in many other agencies that received a letter from Miami, notifying them that they have “been selected” to avoid the international bail but asked for an accounting balance, only to be notified later that such balance was no good and ended up removing their ticketing privileges. Even worse, if the balance was accurate, although IATA would not admit so, IATA would still remove ticketing privilege arguing they did not receive such balance on time.
Have any of you, dear travel agents, received such letter canceling your ticketing? IATA continues to give orders and pretend to keep bully you. Do you know what really is IATA? It is an association of airlines supported by travel agencies.
It has been IATA’s strategy for a few years now to charge travel agencies for everything. When IATA sends you an audit (as if you requested it), when you need to make a change, when IATA checks something on your invoice (even though the fault is IATA’s). IATA charges you for revisions, then charges you for an inspection and soon it will charge you even for phone calls.
Above all, IATA charges for an annual fee like as a foreign agency, not causing IVA (Tax), and give receipts only when an agency requests it. That is called fiscal fraud! Remember that it is not deductible if the IVA is not broken down. IATA already had problems in the past with this issue, and as we can see, IATA will have it again.
IATA should have acted like a facilitator in the business relationship between airlines and travel agencies, but instead, they acted improperly and inefficiently.
There is also another case regarding the bail, as now the agencies are considered half national, half international, IATA charges an annual fee for both. IATA reprimands travel agents and even threatens to remove ticketing privileges (better known as “Switch off”). But the bail still is immovable; IATA demands it and agencies have to pay it. Why does the national bail depend on others and not on the IATA office? In other words, IATA now wants financial statements and double bails.
IATA days are almost over. It is just a matter of time.
Comments
Guys, I think you are over-acting about IATA. IATA is a great and surviving int'l organization. Without IATA, airlines and agents will be stranded. IATA will live and will never fade away because there is a need for a regulator always.
Thx.
IATA is a good body acting between
Airlines and Agents, Iata has regulated
many terms and conditions in a way applicable much to the Professionalism of the Travel Industry, otherwise the Air Ticket AGent would have been like Bus Ticket Agent.
Its Codes and Terms have helped many agents of IATA and Non-Iata to survive.
But when the airlines behaved like
away from IATA and started cutting the commissions, the trend have changed.
IATA lost its charm as they are not able
do anything in stopping the 'cutting ' of commissions to IATA agents by Airlines- so the working way of IATA now becomes weak and considered to be onesided. There is nothing need to be blamed on IATA, as it was doing a Policemen job on investigating and co-ordinated with Airlines and Agents, but now, needless to say without IATA code of conduct more of the things will be lost by the Agents with Airlines.
For e.g it was manadatory to give free IATA rebated ticket for IATA agency staff from the Airlines, but which airline is following it now, even you sell more, you are not recognised for such a prestigious offer, which was possible only when IATA was Strong. Nowaday you can see that most of the airlines are failing due to the less coordination of IATA with that of Airlines and Agents. IATA should regain its power, no wonder the staff of regulating body becomes arrogant and
aggressive as it is a nature. We wish IATA able to dictate again to Airlines and get back the Agency Commission 9% per Ticket again. So that the Old Days of profit will come again to the Airlines as well as Agents. More Bankruptucies of Airlines wil stop in future in IATA comes strong again and do the Dictations
with the code of conducts and regulations. If you see the Past history of Airlines became bankrupted means, it was that they broke rules of IATA fare structures and were under cutting the IATA decided fares, finally they Failed, but the Airlines one that followed IATA fare structure is still
Existing. No wonder the day will come back to IATA, and all Agents in the world will have the Commission given like before for Each Ticket Sellings. thanks
Mary, you said, "Next time you get bumbed sic] from a flight or hotel try calling the internet to complain!! i think you will get alot of help! Professional travel agents always help their clients when there is a problem."
You still haven't got it yet, have you? Those of us that book everything independently and online (and I leave the country regularly and have plenty of experience in underdeveloped 3rd world locations) have no need for travel agents. I book my flight online, if I am bumped I have flight reservation info directly from the airline, not through some middle man travel agent that has other clients to deal with. I book my hotel online, if there is a problem with a reservation the manager on property will be looking at my reservation confirmation as I stand there next to him, not on the phone with you so you can earn commission. It's not like we call "the internet" to complain, we take confirmed bookings straight to people that can make something happen, not get on the phone with an agent located god knows where.
Fact of the matter is 90% of agents are no longer necessary. Niche agents specializing in certain things will still be useful, but having you plan my next vacation is an utter waste of time and money. It's a new era, I suggest you learn to adjust because the Internet does more for my travel experience than any agent ever has.
The faults lie with the airlines.
That's where the regulations start, and all the rest are middlemen.
That's where all the money goes.
Use a travel agent as a consultant, pay them to consult, and book flights yourselves if you're willing to take all the risks.
I've been booking tickets for 25 years and am now buying insurance on EVERY flight. ALWAYS buy insurance.
If we think IATA is bad, just take a look at ARC these days. They have hired ONE person to do the reports each week, and decide if the payments and/or reports are "on time". Now, the reports have to be completed by each Tuesday, but the funds are not removed from the agency account until two weeks later. The agency has the option of sending a cashier's check for the reporting period if that check arrives by the same Wednesday as the report is done on Tuesday, meaning you have to send it overnight mail. Okay, no problem. But if the "mail room" signs for the check on Wednesday and the one person that does the checking decides that he doesn't have it in his hot little hands on that same Wednesday because the mail room didn't deliver it to him, then you are late with your payment and he IMMEDIATELY writes to your bonding company telling them that you have defaulted. OoooooRRRRRR, he waits until a week after the cashier's check has been cashed, and ARC has the funds in their bank of America account and then he writes to your bonding company and tells them you defaulted. Your bonds are cancelled and you can't get one, even if this guy writes back and tells them you were not at fault and didn't default on your bond. It's over, and you will be out of business because ARC will put you out of business. Through no fault of your own. Well, do we really need ARC anymore? Are they treating the agencies fairly? What if we all quit paying into ARC and did all the tickets on-line and opened a Merchant Service account for our Service Charges and ARC no longer had any money to operate and guess what guys, no more ARC fees (3%) on our service fees, no more ARC fees for just having them, no more bonds, no more $10,000.00 Letters of Credit at the banks, and ARC would be gone. We, as agents, would then have some leverage again with the airlines to go back and sign contracts with them to get commissions, and we could run our own businesses with a whole lot more cash in our pockets as we would not have to deal with ARC and all their fees, IATA and their fees, and there would be no more debit memos either. The airlines would have to accept what they got paid through the clients credit cards for the prices they quoted. If we sold a ticket through the airline directly, we could still pay for them with the clients credit cards but save all the fees that ARC now charges for "servicing" our service fees because the airlines are too cheap to pay commissions to us that do the work.
When we contract directly with the airlines, we can contract for "x" number of free or reduced rate tickets with that each airline and get better rates for our clients. Time to reduce the governing bodies of our business. If not, we will all see ourselves in the same boat. They will continue to raise prices of "their services" and take take take from us. And don't think it won't happen because it has already. They put an agency of 20 years out of business with one false letter, and there is no recourse on the part of the agency. They sent a letter to the bonding company that they sent the letter in error and were sorry, but the damage had been done, Dunn & Bradstreet and the credit reporting companies had been notified and the bond was cancelled. Puff, the agency is no more. One of the very few agencies in the USA that has been in the black each and every year, has never laid off any employees of which has grown from one or two to twenty, and also the associated agencies that were working under that companies bond for many years. They are all out of business now. In the matter of one letter and one person with ARC deciding he was "God" of the travel agencies. And ARC is backing him and his remarks. They don't care if they have put nearly 50 people out of work in this economy. How many of you are really ready to take care of your own business and get rid of ARC and IATA. ASTA won't help you out if this happens, and no attorney will take the case if you get this letter from ARC. TIME TO TAKE BACK OUR OWN DESTINY AND RUN OUT BUSINESSES FAIRLY ON OUR OWN. Or are you all too complacent and lazy that you can't do it on your own anymore. That's what most Americans are, they want everything done for them and given to them. Time to get up off your duffs and stand up for yourselves and work for what you want to achieve.
Dear Mr Eres,
HI! I completely understand your thought process.
There are a couple of suggestions here -
Ask friends who travel regularly - for contact / referal of their travel agent - with whom they work regularly - tried and tested.
Check out the list of travel agent associations - registered with the local groups in your country -
eg: we have TAAI and TAFI , here in India - to name 2 of the associations , who have member agents and directories.
All the best - and I do hope that you can and will support agents in your country.
I agree Mary , but who is going to explain this to the clients/customers?
They are just concerned about deals - which the hotels and airlines are putting up on their sites - without realising - the after effects of this.
Clients too - do not realise that when dealing with internet - they are helpless , when it comes to dates changes / cancellation of trip , in case of emergencyies - when agents can and do help - by way of trying to get cancellation waivers etc - where possible.
Who will bell the cat?
Well Mary, I guess you got it right. You said a 'professional travel agent' would be there to help me. The problem is that there are lots of agents out there claiming to be professionals. The only way you can know for sure is to have something go wrong and find out they will not help you.
I would not use the internet to purchase a trip either. There are lots of fraudlent offers on the net.
No, I'll book with the airlines from now on. As for hotels, I can call them and make reservations.
Anyone can claim to be a professional travel agent. There are millions of criminals in the world and some of them pretend to be professional travel agents.
Just how is one supposed to know who is honest and not without taking that chance?
I have not been IATA for ten years now and I do not miss one thing. It makes no difference whether I issue tickets or I purchase them from consolidators, and in fact I make more money with less hassle. I do not receive debit memos, I do not have to keep outrageous security in place or staffing requirements that break my back. No one knows the difference...no one looks or asks for any IATA certification and I do not feel like a second class agency. I am one of the few survivors of the travel industry and I credit this to my decision to drop IATA years ago. I would encourage every agency to do the same and get rid of this arrogant dinosaur once and for all.
Mr. Eres, you really do not know what you are talking about. Next time you get bumbed from a flight or hotel try calling the internet to complain!! i think you will get alot of help! Professional travel agents always help their clients when there is a problem. I am sure alot of people can do without your profession too, correct??
Absolutely correct.
This article is so true, IATA is an implementation body. It serves to implement what the airlines and agents have agreed to. However, they display sheer arrogance and have appointed themselves judge and jury.In East Africa, IATA is biased towards the airlines and treats Agents like subjects.I would really like to know what value is IATA to an Agent in this day and age??
I say do away with all travel agents. I will never use one again. I recently had an experience where my flight was delayed and I missed a connecting flight. KLM refused to work with me to get me on another flight because I had purchased the tickets from a travel agent. The travel agent had purchased from a wholesaler or consolidator, I am still not sure what they are, but it was late on a Friday night and the consolidator was not to be found. Bottom line, my tickets were in limbo and I missed my trip. All because I trusted what is supposed to be a professional. My experience is when you give your money to a travel agent, its gone for good. I should have been suspicious when they wanted money western union but agreed to a credit card and charged me extra to use a card.
I have come to believe that there is no way to know if a travel agent is honest or not without risking your trip. From now on, I will do all my own bookings. You can keep the wholesalers and consolidators. I'll pay more but I know I will get the trip I paid for.
good one!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very well said!!
I completely agree.
I hope some of the Indian agents are reading this article!!
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