Jet Airways has agreed "in principle'' to allow agents to use credit cards to book tickets and restore price parity in tickets sold on website and reservation systems used by agents.

Senior executives of the airline met representatives of Travel Agents Association of India and Travel Agents Federation of India in Mumbai on Tuesday to resolve contentious issues. The two sides also discussed the travel agents demand for restoring 5% commission on regular sales (from current 1%) but the airline gave no commitment on the issue, a travel agent who participated in the meeting said.

Over the last few months the agents have been demanding that the airline increase remuneration as margins in the business have come down. The agents did voluntary shut down of trade for a day in April and also met airline chairman Naresh Goyal last month seeking higher commission.

"The airline executives agreed in principle to allow agents to use credit card but now modalities have to be worked out,'' the agent said. One of the reasons why agents have been insisting on use of credit card booking is that it gives them 40-50 day period to make payment to the bank. Jet Airways and few other airlines discontinued the practice because the airline had to pay merchant charges to banks said to be 1-2% of the transaction and this meant lower net revenue.

The other demand pertained to price parity. Agents demanded that Jet should not restrict promotional discount offers to its website and the same should be opened up for sale even on reservation systems used by agents. The agents have been complaining of loss of business due to sale of promotion fares on airline  websites.

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