Air France-KLM has said it will stop Flight Centre’s French subsidiary 3Mundi from selling its tickets due to alleged “irregularities” in the display of flight prices by the TMC, according to multiple media reports.
The airline group said it was revoking the mandate for 3Mundi to sell its tickets in the French market, although the ban will only take effect in six months.
The move comes just weeks after TMCs in France criticised Air France-KLM over its forthcoming GDS surcharge for business travel agencies, which will be introduced on 1 April 2023. Air France-KLM has also had to suspend access to its travel agency portal in recent days due to fraud cases.
3Mundi said in a statement, provided to BTN Europe: “We have been made aware of actions taking place with 3Mundi locally in the French market.
“Our team are investigating and in discussions to resolve this matter. In the meantime, we continue to be able to fully service our local and global customers.”
A statement from Air France-KLM, supplied to BTN Europe, said that it was of “utmost importance” that fares provided to corporate customers were displayed in a “transparent manner” by TMCs and other agencies.
“Customers want to know what they are paying to the carrier on the one hand, and what they are paying to the travel agency on the other,” it added.
“This is also the rule of the mandate of travel agencies: transparency on the price of the ticket on the one hand, and on the price of their service (service charges) on the other hand.
“Following several alerts and controls from customers in the last few months, repeated irregularities have been found on the pricing of tickets distributed by 3Mundi. Several customers have already alerted the authorities. Air France-KLM is therefore forced to withdraw its mandate to sell Air France-KLM tickets to 3Mundi."
Meanwhile an industry source confirmed to BTN Europe that Air France-KLM had written to customers to say that 3Mundi would no longer be able to sell its tickets from 5 June 2023.
A previous report from Deplacement Pros suggested that Air France-KLM was looking to take action against at least three France-based travel agencies over the way they display flight prices.
BTN Europe has approached Air France-KLM for further comment on this situation.