The Canadian Standard Travel Agent Registry (CSTAR) petitioned Canada's Competition Tribunal on Tuesday for emergency injunctive relief from IATA's planned conversion to all e-tickets in Canada as of June 1.

CSTAR also asked for a hearing on the merits of its allegations that IATA's removal of all paper is premature and takes unfair competitive advantage of agents by refusing to deal with them when e-tickets are not an option.

CSTAR and the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) in April sought relief at Canada's Competition Bureau, but the bureau declined to consider the case.

Bruce Bishins, CSTAR's CEO, said the two competition agencies look at different aspects of anticompetitive behavior. The bureau focuses on competitive injury, whereas the tribunal focuses on behavior that shuts out competitors by refusing to deal with them, Bishins said.

CSTAR sought injunctive relief to retain the status quo, meaning the ability for agents to process paper tickets through IATA after June 1 as needed, while the issues are addressed by the tribunal in a hearing on the merits. Bishins said relief would also have to include assurances that GDSs are notified not to suppress paper tickets in Canada.

Meanwhile, Canadian agencies have received no instructions from any carrier (except for Air Canada) about how to deal with situations where e-tickets are not possible, said Bishins.

In a May 16 letter to agents, Air Canada said that where e-tickets are not possible on an itinerary involving Air Canada, agents have to issue a V-MPD (essentially, a virtual miscellaneous charge order), and Air Canada will issue the paper tickets. Air Canada said it has to receive such requests 10 business days prior to travel, and the paper tickets will be mailed to the address specified by the agency.

To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine Godwin at ngodwin@travelweekly.com.