PETALING JAYA: Air travellers will have to pay extra when they purchase Malaysia Airlines tickets from travel agents in Malaysia because the national carrier has scrapped commission payment to the agencies under a new marketing plan.
Passengers will have to pay at least 5% of the ticket price but it could be even more if they pay by credit card or the travel agents deliver the ticket.
Previously, MAS paid their registered agents 2% commission for the sale of special fare tickets.
MAS and Malaysian Association for Travel and Tour Agents issued a joint statement yesterday confirming the scrapping of the commission effective Tuesday.
However, the two parties stated that commission was still payable tickets issued on full published IATA international and domestic fares.
MAS has already announced that they would charge a service fee of RM15 per domestic travel transaction and RM30 for international transactions for both cash and credit card purchases made either through its 24-hour Call Centre or its ticket offices.
This also took effect on Tuesday.
Matta president Ngiam Foon said agents were charging the service fee because the national carrier had withdrawn the commission.
“The service fees will vary depending on the services requested by the customers. Customers will have to pay more for their MAS air tickets now but the ‘more’ depends on the services asked,” he said, adding that those on credit terms will generally have a higher service fee according to the credit level.
Asked about the impact of this latest move which effectively increased the prices of air travel, Ngiam said: “I cannot say if this is a positive or negative move but we will need to see the reactions from the public.
“I believe the travel industry will still go strong. People will still travel.”
However, he pointed out that travel agents were not just ticket issuers but also offer professional advice on destinations, flights and schedules.
Ngiam added that agents also collected the fuel surcharges and airport taxes for MAS and Malaysian Airport Berhad (MAB) but were not paid for carrying out these tasks.
“There is cost involved for agents when they transfer the money to MAS and MAB,” he added.
Source: The Star
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