Anirban Chowdhury in New Delhi

Travel agents in the country have had their way with airlines, at least in the domestic sector. National carrier Air India today agreed to pay a 3 per cent commission to travel agents, nearly two weeks after Jet Airways [Get Quote] and Kingfisher agreed to do the same.

Like Jet and Kingfisher, AI too will pay the commission on the total fare including fuel surcharge and basic fare, instead of 5 per cent on the basic fare, which it used to pay earlier.

The three full-service carriers had stopped paying the agents commission since November 1.

This is a significant move since Air India accounts for the single largest chunk of agents' revenues.

Agents have, however, said a 3 per cent commission on the total fare would not always amount to higher than 5 per cent on the basic fare what they used to get earlier. The agents would, therefore, get lesser benefits on the higher fares like business class, or international fares.

Apart from the Indian carriers, there are others like Singapore Airlines, which have stopped giving commission to the agents.

"Now that the national carrier has conceded to our demands, getting the international airlines on board should be easy," said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India.

On December 11, Kingfisher had agreed to pay a 3 per cent commission to travel agents. In retaliation to the airlines' move of not paying commission, over 2,500 travel agents had stopped selling Jet tickets from December 4, after which Jet had to agree to pay them commission on December 9.