A travel agent based in Mombasa has sued KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, seeking a permanent injunction to restrain it from demanding payment for five tickets, allegedly purchased fraudulently.
In its case at the High Court in Mombasa, Kilindini Travel Centre Ltd says it is an International Air Travel Association (IATA)-accredited travel agent, authorised to conduct air ticketing business for both local and international travel.
The company claims that on May 13, an unknown entity or person purchased a set of five air tickets worth $126,338.47 (Sh16.3 million) from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines using the Kilindini Travel Centre portal. The tickets were for a round trip from Tokyo, Japan, to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and back to Tokyo.
The travel agent says that the five air tickets were purchased using a credit card, which is not standard operating procedure in the industry, Typically, an agent buys tickets for its customers through a designated bank, it said.
According to the agency, the owners of the air tickets never travelled. Instead, on May 15, all the tickets were cancelled and a request for refund was made, which the airline honoured. All money paid for the air tickets was refunded.
The company claims that the purchase of the tickets was a fraud committed against it for unknown reasons.
Kilindini Travel Centre states that neither the purchaser of the five tickets in question nor any of the named passengers are known to them, and they have never dealt with any of them in the course of their business.
“The plaintiff states that the said five air tickets were of the J-type in the air travel industry, and they are the most expensive tickets in the business class air travel,” argues the firm in its case filed on September 29.
The agency says that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has lodged a claim against it for payment of the money, alleging that the tickets were non-refundable and were issued in breach of the Air Fare Rules, and that the cost of the refunded tickets is owed.
Kilindini Travel Centre disputes this, stating that the tickets are refundable according to IATA rules.
The travel agent says that the airline's demand for payment is unreasonable, oppressive, and unwarranted and should be stopped by the court.
The agency also argues that if the carrier's demand for payment is actualised, it will cause irreparable loss to its business and operations.
Kilindini Travel Centre also says that in their normal day-to-day operations, they purchase air tickets from various airlines, including the defendant, for their respective customers, and the payments for the air tickets are effected through their bank via a bank guarantee issued to IATA.
The case has been scheduled for a hearing on October 16.
