Tag Archives: TAFI

Sharing an update on the association’s elections, Pradip Lulla, Acting President & VP, TAFI, says, “We have just concluded all our Chapter and National AGMs. We are now looking to have our national elections early next year. We are still working on the modalities of it and looking at either doing a postal ballot or conducting it virtually using a software.”

In a tweet directed at some of the Indian airlines as well as MoCA and the DGCA, TAFI said that it is the duty of MoCA and DGCA India under the leadership of Hardeep S Puri to ensure that the Supreme Court orders for refund of tickets are followed by all airlines. This would amount to contempt of court if not followed. We request the DGCAIndia and MoCA to intervene to ensure rightful credit.

The Travel Agents Federation of INDIA (Gujarat Chapter) recently organised a four-day FAM trip within Gujarat to Saputara and Tent city 1, Kevadia. Led by Chapter Chairman, Jigar Dudakiya, the team undertook this educational tour sponsored by Gujarat Tourism. Keeping the health safety in mind, the TAFI team gave suggestions and precautionary measures which every members had to follow during the tour. They also distributed Covid kits to delegates that included steam machine with Genvol inhalant capsules, thermometer, sanitizer, and masks.

The Supreme Court has pronounced the verdict on the airline refund case that was led by Pravasi Legal Cell. It has accepted DGCA’s recommendations on airfare refund and travel agents will get a full refund for tickets booked by them, and not directly to the passengers. The full refund scheme formulated by the DGCA has been approved by the Supreme Court. Both, the Indian Tour Operators Association of India (IATO) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) had filed a writ petition in court for this. Sharing this happy development, Pradip Lulla, Acting President and Vice President, TAFI, says, “We are very happy with the verdict. The tickets purchased through travel agents will be refunded back to agents and coupons of passengers will be made through travel agents.” The judgement copy stated, ‘…the action on the part of airlines operating domestic as well as international flights in India, in refusing to refund the full amount collected for tickets to travel during the period of ban on air travel, as illegal and arbitrary…’ It adds, ‘It is the case of the petitioner that where the tickets are booked by travel agents from their account, refund should be made in the same manner and channel though which payments for tickets have been received by the airlines.’

TAFI has requested the GST Council and the Finance Ministry to review the refund of GST on air ticket refunds, and extend the date applicable for refund GST till March 31, 2021 due to the delay in total refunds by airlines. It said that as per rule, if tickets are not refunded till September 30, 2020, then GST will not be refunded and customers will end up losing 5% in the economy class ticket and 12% in business class of the ticket value. TAFI has also filed a case in Supreme Court for airline refunds and the next hearing is on September 23.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), along with its Managing Committee, has decided to reduce its annual subscription for its agents by 25 per cent across the board in view of the current situation. Pradip Lulla, President, TAFI, says, “We realise that there isn’t much business for the trade right now. Keeping this in mind we decided to reduce our fee.” The association is looking to conduct its virtual convention in November and will shortly finalise the details.

Pradip Lulla, Vice- President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), has said that they have postponed their elections, which were due this year. “We had an MC meeting recently, where we took a decision on our elections. Because of the pandemic, we have decided to postpone our elections. We will continue having our AGMs though.”

Pradeep Lulla, Acting President and VP, TAFI, has said that the association has reached out to all the domestic airlines seeking clarification on air ticket refunds for bookings made for travel from 25th May 2020. This comes after the government decided to resume limited domestic flight operations around the country. Lulla said that since certain conditional clarifications are not mentioned by the airlines, they have written to airlines for matters concerning tour operators. He also said that TAFI’s petition on airline refunds in Supreme Court will come up for hearing probably in the next 10 days.

Pradip Lulla, Acting President and VP, TAFI, believes that there are no sops in this year’s Budget to boost the travel industry. “I hope that GST on services provided by travel agents at 18 per cent will be reviewed. Further, corporate tax reduction to 25 percentage is only on turnover of Rs 400 crore which excludes most of us! Also, double taxation on our tour pricing has been having a cascading on our costs making us uncompetitive. I hope that the industry receives some relief from the GST Council in future,” he said.

After Air India announced offering its inventory solely through its select GDS,  Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) along with Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has urged the airline to review its decision. In a joint statement, the two associations said, “For these agencies including those which do not have access or frequently sell the airline seats on the GDS preferred by Air India, it is quite evident that selling Air India would not be an easy proposition and thus thay may opt for other airlines for their customers. For several established agencies, usage of GDS is governed by global agreements they have entered into and thus switching over or training their staff to get used to this limited GDS access will be a difficult option to cope with.’ On November 5, both the associations had a detailed discussion with the Air India Senior Management and conveyed that this decision of going exclusive on a GDS would be detrimental to the airline and this must be urgently reviewed. The associations are keen that Air India must not suffer any losses that would further damage the health of the airline. The senior management promised to revert in a day and on November 6, the associations received a phone call from them to inform that there will be no change in Air India’s stand. The joint statement goes on to add, “Air India has been reeling under tremendous financial challenges and instead of finding ways to increase its seat sales via an easy access through GDS channels, this move by the national carrier is shocking. The response given by Air India is that this would save its distribution costs. It is a …