Price tussle on Pakistan routes irks passengers

The ongoing price war between airlines on Pakistani routes has confused travellers, who have also accused travel agents of cheating.

The newly announced reduced fares involve lots of booking and ticketing restrictions that create unwarranted difficulties for passengers, said travel agents in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Passengers do not want to look at any technical details but ask for tickets at reduced prices. This leads to bickering between travel agents and passengers who accuse agents for misleading and overcharging, said Kamran Siddiqui, manager of Al Amana Travel and Tourism in Al Ain.

The price tussle started recently when Emirates brought down its pre-tax return fare to Northern Pakistani destinations to Dh850 and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) responded by lowering its fare to Dh750 for upcountry destinations and Dh450 for Karachi.

Small Pakistani carriers such as Aero Asia and Shaheen Air International have also joined the price war and are offering additional baggage allowances to survive in the market.

PIA has imposed a number of restrictions under the new fares scheme. Passengers interested in availing these fares are required to buy their tickets at least a week before travel. They will be fined Dh50 for changing the date of travel once it is confirmed.

"Passengers do not understand this and they blame us for the deduction," said Siddiqui.

"Fare slashing in high season is beyond comprehension as all airlines are flying packed to their capacity on Pakistani routes. No extra capacity is available to sell tickets under the reduced fares scheme."

Abid Hussain Anwar, managing director of Al Ayyan Travel and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, said PIA has been offering reduced fares on only 15 per cent of seats on an aircraft. Passengers travelling out of this quota are paying a higher fare.

"Passengers believe agents are unscrupulous and charge a high price but this is not the case."

Anwar said the reduced fares have disturbed the agents' yield in addition to increasing the passengers' resentment, as a majority cannot practically avail them.

One of the airlines is announcing on a FM radio station a return fare of Dh410 on one of the routes. This fare does not include a tax of Dh190. Due to this a passenger enters into a fight with a travel agent when he charges Dh600 after adding the tax, he explained.

Another travel agent in Al Ain, asking for anonymity, said the airlines should also consider the problems of the passengers and agents before announcing any kind of new fare structures.

"They should sit down together in the Yield Improvement Committee meeting to work out a consensus on prices, putting an end to the present confusing and disturbing situation," he added.