The civil aviation ministry has decided to allow airlines to charge a transaction fee but has insisted the amount be part of the airfare and not outside it.

In his order last week, Civil Aviation Secretary K N Srivastava ruled the meanings of transaction fee, commission or convenience fee were the same — payment of remuneration to an intermediary. The order said all these were permissible, if shown as a part of the fare, and no sum was collected from consumers over this.

The  order will allow airlines to follow dual pricing (differential fares) "Price differential can exist between a ticket purchased directly from an airline counter or their website or through its website and through an intermediary,'' the aviation secretary’s order said.

"It is an accepted principle that a passenger should be charged only for the services utilised. Therefore, if he has not availed the services of travel agents, it would not be appropriate to burden with the commission payable to travel agents.”

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