A report in yesterday’s TravelMole eNews revealed that Harvey World Travel agents had received a letter from Stella Travel Services, the franchise owner of HWT asking for their views on Qantas’ unprecedented offer to HWT of an improved deal for HWT agents, on the condition that HWT removes itself from the fuel levy class action being taken against the carrier, estimated to be worth $80m.
The Mole has been sniffing around to get a feeling for the reaction from HWT agents and to say the reaction has been strong would be very much an understatement.
One HWT agent said that while they were very grateful that Keith Stanley was consulting them, they had recieved calls from loads of other HWT agents with the consensus being to tell Qantas to get lost.
Another said that what Qantas had not realised was that the agent community could live without Qantas, with in particular plenty of other airlines flying international routes.
An agent added that since Qantas dropped commissions, many agencies had actually stopped recommending Qantas, unless specifically asked for, trying to sell other carriers that still gave commissions.
Another agent contacted by The Mole said that they knew of many HWT franchises who had written to Keith Stanley telling him that if Stella/HWT accepted the offer, they would resign from HWT, with apparently over 30 agencies ready to resign, with reportedly some having offered their resignation already.
HWT agents say that the Stella letter they received outlines that the deal includes a range of improved benefits, increased marketing support and increased overrides, with many agents saying though that the reality is that these activities are actually being funded from the commission payments that are no longer paid to agents!
Yes, you guessed it…………………the HWT agents are not happy and depending which way it goes, if Stella agrees to the Qantas deal, it could have very far reaching consequences for Stella and HWT, with many resignations from HWT very much on the cards.
Report by The Mole
