Government, corporates affected in new air tickets change

NAIROBI, KENYA: International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global umbrella body for airlines, has announced new changes in payment cycles for air tickets purchased from travel agents in Kenya.   This will affect all the Kenya Association of Travel Agents members.

Effective September 1, 2016, the credit period enjoyed by IATA accredited air ticketing Agents will be reduced to 15days from the current 30days.  Agents failing to meet payment deadline will be declared as defaulters and denied facilities to issue tickets.

Consequently, in order to protect the industry from a crisis arising from potential massive defaults, existing credit terms for air tickets will be discarded in favor of cash payments.

The notice released on Friday advice all consumers of air travel services especially corporate entities and Government departments to take note of these new changes and ensure that they have made necessary adjustments in their payment plans to conform to the new requirements.

“Further, the traveling public is requested to immediately contact their travel agent to discuss payment plans available in the market to avoid disruptions of their travel plans.”