Pressure comes on cut-rate travel agent

Press, 6 September 1984, Page 2

Pressure comes on cut-rate travel agent

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

The Christchurch travel agent at the centre of last month’s cut-rate fare controversy confirmed yesterday that he'has been under increasing pressure not to advertise any more “unofficial” fares. More than four weeks have passed since the Budget Airfare Centre advertised specific fares at heavily discounted rates. Instead, the agency has couched' its advertising in more general terms. Asked by “The Press” if he had been pressured to fall into line, Mr Robin Mangos, managing director of the agency, said that “some” airlines had “suggested” he should stop publicising the cheap fares. “They would like to see it all swept back under the counter again,” he said. Mr Mangos was unwilling

to name publicly the airlines concerned. He claimed that some of his competitors, particularly several of the larger travel agencies in Christchurch, had complained to the airlines and to the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport about the advertisements.

Although the Ministry alleged that the fares might be illegal, it has taken no action.

Mr Mangos’ Christchurch agency now holds the official ticket-embossing plates of most of the international airlines flying to New Zealand. Two notable exceptions are Air New Zealand and Qantas.

Travel agents must have an airline’s plates before they can issue tickets on the premises for that particular airline’s flights. Mr Mangos has been forced to issue Air New Zealand tickets for his

‘ Christchurch clients through his North Island agencies, all four of which hold the airline’s plates. In fact, Mr Mangos was recently named by Air New Zealand as one of its top producers in the northern region.

He said he expected to learn next week whether the airline would issue its plates to his Christchurch agency. Mr Mangos is not the only one to draw the wrath of the travel industry: this writer has also been strongly criticised by some agents for publicising the range of cheap fares available.

The Budget Airfare Centre is by no means the only travel agency in Christchurch willing to sell cut-rate fares. It is, however, the only agency prepared to say so publicly.