SouTHERN AfRICA’S TRAVEL NEWS WEEKLY
June 2 2010 I No. 2109
TRAVEL NEWS WEEKLY
INSIDE
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NEWS
ASh CloUd CriSiS
AgENTZoNE
MyStery Shopper
fEATurE
Corporates turn to agents
TNW checks out online holidays
Adventurers opt for cruise tours
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CrUiSing
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Cough up yQ/yr, airlines told Rachael Penaluna
A
We’re here for you! Ethiopian Airlines plans to establish a global call centre that will provide customers with access to its services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The initial phase of the call centre service is planned to go live in June covering North America, Europe and Asia. The project will be completed in three phases through October, covering the rest of the world. Services encompass reservations, sales, ticketing, flight information, flight irregularity handling, Sheba Miles enrolment and support programmes and other similar queries. The centre will have the capacity to reach customers at short notice and send information using multi-media channels such as email and SMS. Waiting to take your call are (from left) sales manager, Pierre du Plessis, sales executive, Enrico Esterhuizen, and reservations consultant, Annalize Martin Photo: Tijana Huysamen
9W partners with Voyager Jeanette PhilliPs JET Airways has partnered with SAA’s Voyager programme, enabling members of both FFPs to earn and spend miles on both airlines. However, the new agreement, according to Alex Cost, Jet Airways gm Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, should not be confused with a codeshare agreement with SAA. “No codeshare has been signed between the two airlines to date. An agreement is in place for a partnership between the two frequent flyer
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programmes alone and no codeshare is necessary for this,” said Alex. The arrangement allows Voyager members to collect and redeem miles on Jet Airways’ daily Johannesburg services to Mumbai as well as on its regional services and domestic, all economy Jet Airways Konnect flights. Jet Airways has also forged a commercial agreement with SAA allowing it to provide competitive and convenient connectivity to and from South Africa’s major cities, including Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth as well as regional destinations. n
rECENT court judgment in Australia ruling that airline fuel surcharges could not be considered a tax but rather were part of the fare, could see travel agents worldwide demand that airlines repay millions of rands in commission on the surcharge component. The Australian ruling forces airlines to include the fuel surcharge in their base figure for calculating commissions paid to agents. Australian commercial litigation lawyer for Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Steve Lewis, who represented agencies against Qantas in this case, says the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia found that “under the Iata Passenger Sales Agency Agreement, Qantas (and by definition all international airlines) is bound to pay commission to travel agents on the fuel surcharges component of international published fares as the fuel surcharge is part of the applicable fare.” Says Steve: “Applying this judgment, it can be argued that airlines in South Africa must pay (agents) commission on the fuel surcharges and refund the fuel surcharge if the airfare is also refunded as the fuel surcharge is part of the applicable fare.” But it is this second point that continues to rile agencies as several airlines have a policy not to refund the fuel surcharge component of the
ticket even if the traveller has not flown on any of the segments and therefore has not ‘used’ any fuel. Because most airlines consider the YQ tax to be part of the basic fare, basic fare conditions on nonrefundable tickets apply in the case of a refund of the YQ tax. British Airways, one of the airlines that does not refund the surcharge component, does refund charges payable to third parties like airport authorities and government, but as fuel is “an integral part of the cost of the fare” it does not refund this surcharge if the fare is nonrefundable. Virgin Atlantic’s policy is the same. This appears to be the bare minimum required by the EU Consumer Protection Commission as it mandates that passengers have a “clear legal right” to be refunded “all airport fees and government charges” that are not due. No mention of fuel surcharge refunds is made. Cathay Pacific, on the other hand, does charge the fuel surcharge as a YQ tax and if an unused ticket is refunded, regardless of the fare rules, all taxes, including the fuel surcharge, are refunded. Emirates, for instance, builds the surcharge into the basic fare, which means that the fare rules apply in all instances when a refund is sought. Asata says the practice of not refunding fuel surcharges is “misleading”. It says: “It is standard To page 2