… condemn Lufthansa’s new surcharge
Moved by the alarm- ing rate of high cost of tickets on foreign routes in Nigeria, mem- bers of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), on Thursday, called on the Federal Gov- ernment to investigate the matter with a view to nor- malising such with equidis- tant regions.
The members, who spoke in a statement signed by Aminu Agoha, president of NANTA, also berate Luf- thansa airlines for plan- ning to introduce 16 euro (N3,000) on tickets issued through the General Distri- bution Systems (GDS) from September 2015.
According to the asso- ciation, Lufthansa also plans for the Nigerian market to start charging ‘walk-in cus- tomers’ service charges of $50 and $100 for economy and business class tickets, respectively, so that trav- el agency fares would be cheaper than theirs.
They however con- demned the plan, saying the palliatives do not add any value to the Nigerian market. “
Lufthansa’s planned surcharge of 16 euro will in- crease the cost of Lufthansa tickets in Nigeria.
Another airline operating in Nigeria which has its own travel agent booking portal, in addition to the GDS is not introducing extra charges for bookings done via the GDS.
We therefore view this planned charges by Lufthansa as another ploy to engage in capital flight.
“Although this surcharge will be borne directly by our passengers, we are of the view that it is our duty, as travel agents, to protect our loyal passengers and the Nigerian public by inform- ing them of the unnecessary extra charges which they will incur each time they chose to fly Lufthansa,” they said.
The body, which said it was high time to cut the the wings of foreign airlines for engaging in some mal- practices in Nigeria, said: “We hereby call on the Fed- eral Government of our great country, Nigeria, through the regulatory bodies to urgently investigate planned surcharge of 16 euro per ticket by Lufthansa.
“Alarming rise in the cost of tickets in Nigeria; structure and composition of fares of- fered by international airlines in Nigeria; possible anti-trust practices by international airlines operating in Nigeria and sale of airline tickets by financial institutions and courier companies.
SADE WILLIAMS
