Air India Bans Agents From Selling Canada Tickets Over Gouging

"Poppycock, a sham, baffling, irrational” — Indian agents reserved the choicest adjectives to describe Air India’s move that bans them from booking tickets for Canada.

The airline has resorted to this measure to penalize agents selling tickets to harried passengers at three to four times the original fare, according to reports in the Indian media,

However, with India having opened its skies for international scheduled flight operations from Sunday, local agents feel the airline has smartly bypassed them to sell directly to the consumers. Demand for flights between the two countries is very high and Air India is one of only two airlines with a direct Canada connection from India, Air Canada being the other.

Besides its large Indian diaspora, Canada is home to thousands of Indian students. As per the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the highest percentage (34 percent) of inbound students coming into Canada was from India in 2020. The number of Indian students visiting Canada has