ASFA, The Association of Special Fares Agents, Airline Consolidators, Bucketshops and Discount Travel Agents.
Founded in 1986 in Amsterdam by Ad Latjes, Koos Schouten, Folke von Knobloch, Rudy Weissmann, Daniel Staeger and other discount travel industry experts as a platform for discount travel specialists, consolidators and bucketshops from all over the world.
The original name was ITA (International Travel Association) which after disagreements between the founding members about territorial exclusivity at a meeting in Singapore in April 1987 was changed to ASFA. ASFA was founded allowing multiple agents per country, while ITA (www.ita-travel.com) continued as a small cartel.
Ad Latjes broke away from ASFA in 1989 to establish ETN (European Travel Network)(www.etn.nl).
The main purpose of ASFA is the exchange of knowledge in regards to discounted airline tickets on the same route offered in different markets. Especially intercontinental airlines offer different prices on the same route depending on where they are ticketed. For example, an airline ticket on the London-Los Angeles route could be much cheaper if issued in Amsterdam or Lisbon.
ASFA members meet yearly to exchange information about new trends in the airline ticketing industry.
The administrative office of ASFA moved in 1998 to Sofia, Bulgaria.
Currently ASFA has 690 members (16 June 2006)
ASFA does not bond or license agents and ASFA members are registered and bonded according to the laws of the countries and states that they are operating in.
External links
- ASFA, The Association of Special Fares Agents website
- ETN, European Travel Network website
- ITA, International Travel Association website
- Koos Jan Schouten website
- Ad Latjes website
- Folke von Knobloch website
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The main article for this category is Association of Special fares Agents.
Categories: Transportation | Service industries | Tourism
