TravTalk India Online Magazine
The second mid-year forum of United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA) saw some pertinent questions rising in terms of agents’ rights with respect to IATA and airlines. Here is what ensued…
Nisha Verma
Stating that UFTAA and the travel agent community cannot wait for the crisis to get over, Yossef Fatael, VP, UFTAA, laid focus on the relationship of agents with airlines and IATA, and said that they have a commercial agreement with IATA, not airlines, which needs to be respected by both sides. “It’s a joint agreement which IATA signed on behalf of the airlines that makes us accredited agents. Hence, by legal definition, this is an agent-principal relationship, which is even written in the IATA resolution, with the principal being the airlines.There are duties for each side to fulfill. However, the principals need to act in accordance with the terms that include indemnity to agents and to deal fairly in good faith, with compensation being part of the legal duties of any principal,” he claims.
Hence, UFTAA has written to IATA to change the rules. Fatael adds, “Right now, our demand is to make some urgent changes that will reflect all the weaknesses that we are experiencing during this crisis. We think that not only do they need to guarantee the money, we don’t owe them any money and we should not even pay the money in advance. We need to agree on the number of days before travel that the agent would transfer the money to the airline. Hence, this relationship of being creditors will stop.”
‘Do not hesitate to go to the law’
One important message to the associations is that they should not hesitate to go to the law. All federations are up in arms for asking IATA to safeguard agencies’ future and therefore, the entire resolution must be re-drafted, and we have started the process.
