Agent calls for BA to reverse 'unjustified' ADM

A Qatar travel agent who is shackled with a massive US $6,000 debt to British Airways for an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) has called on the airline to reverse the penalty which he claims is 'entirely unjustified’.

Purakot Balakrishnan, reservation & ticketing agent, Cleopatra Travel in Doha was slapped with the huge fine for making an ‘inputting error’ on a BA booking back in 2006.

ADMs are meant as a legitimate way for airlines to fine travel agents breaching ticketing rules - but BA has been pinpointed by travel trade across the region for a string of abuses to the system.

Balakrishnan claims the fine was received for placing a ‘deal code’ in the wrong box on the booking form. To add insult to injury he says, the booking was double-checked by a member of BA’s own telesales staff prior to issuing the ticket, who confirmed it was entirely correct.

BA gave the agent no room to dispute the fine of US $ 5,616 (QAR 20,448) – which came through one month after the booking was made – an amount five times higher than the original ticket price.

Endless attempts to contact BA and reverse the penalty over the past five years have proved entirely futile. “Because of the huge amount being debited for no reason of mine, I even made a trip to Dubai to meet the BA manager of trade sales in person but she refused to give me an appointment or to listen to my plea,” said Balakrishnan.

The agent has since been forced to pay BA up to $220 (QAR800) out of his monthly pay packet which is just over $1,500 a month, in order to pay off his debts to the airline – which he describes as a “huge burden”.

So far the agent has paid nearly $4,000 to BA – which he now wants the airline to return to him in full. “The airline has already received its money from the value of the ticket paid by the passenger, and just for what they term as a petty ‘mistake’ – they can then debit the poor agent a huge amount that no travel agent can afford to shell out from his meagre salary.”

Fellow travel agents told Arabian Travel News that such abuse of the ADM system was commonplace in Qatar – and has resulted in agents boycotting BA for fear of being hit with similar huge penalties.

“It is a practice that’s abused by airlines,” said Darim Mohammed, country manager, Al Shamel Travel, Qatar. “Some ADMs that we have received have been completely out of proportion. When you look at the mistake that’s been made the value of the ADM is completely exponential compared to what the actual cost of the ticket originally was. And there are certain airlines out there that are just abusing that process. I think the question to ask is – is it ‘justified’?”

Balakrishnan added that ultimately BA would be the ones to lose out.

“I have waved my debit note to all my colleagues and nobody sells BA,” he said. “BA is actually losing. For QAR 20,000 I can say they have lost more than QAR 2 million because my colleagues ask me have they cleared your debit note yet? I say no. So they say okay, we don’t sell BA. They have lost, they are still losing and they will continue to lose.”

BA has not responded to a request for comment from Arabian Travel News.