ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- ASTA, after a review of its options for dealing
with the phenomenon of offshore ticketing, took a
middle-of-the-road approach this week by making itself a
facilitator for members in the U.S. and abroad who want to forge
partnerships in order to enhance their airline commission earnings.
ASTA, on June 17, e-mailed its international membership advising
them that if they want to explore such partnerships, they are
welcome to post messages to that effect at the Society's WebExchange for members at ASTANet. Meanwhile, two
days later, ASTA also advised its domestic members that they can
begin looking for such postings or make some of their own.
ASTA will limit its role in the matter to highlighting the
WebExchange as a communications tool but will not be involved in
any partnerships that may result.
Some agents in the U.S. already have such partnerships whereby
an agency in a country where airlines still pay healthy commissions
issues tickets for its U.S. partners and they split those
commissions.
Delta and Northwest have issued warnings intended to put a stop
to such practices, which injected an extra note of caution into the
ASTA deliberations. However, even without those public steps,
agents who do or want to use offshore ticketing schemes recognize
they may be ended at some point.
With these issues in mind, ASTA's e-mailed notes to members
include words of caution to the effect that participants in such
pacts may be at risk of carrier actions that could include recovery
of the claimed commissions or even cancellation of ticketing
rights.