You might be thinking of adding flight tickets to the counter. Customers ask for them, you already do train bookings or recharges, and someone has told you that you need “a licence” or “IATA registration”. Someone else says you can start tomorrow with an ID from a company. Who’s right?

Both can be right, because “registration” means two different things in this business. This guide sticks to public rules: what IATA publishes, how GST values an air ticket agent’s service, what the aviation regulator says about refunds, and which questions to put to a provider before you pay. It won’t promise you a profit, because no public rule does.

One useful fact first. The Ministry of Tourism told Parliament on 12 December 2024 that its recognition is a voluntary scheme. So there isn’t one government licence that every flight agent must hold. SiOnline’s own services are on its services overview.

What does “registration” mean here?

It covers two arrangements.

If you have your own appointment, you contract with airlines yourself, for example through IATA accreditation. If you take an agent ID from a provider, you work under the provider’s agreement, wallet and support. Both can be legitimate, but they’re different products with different risks.

	Own airline appointment	Agent ID from a provider
What you hold	An IATA code and a place in IATA’s settlement plan	A login and a wallet on the provider’s system
Who sets the terms	IATA and the airlines	The provider
What to check first	IATA’s financial and document requirements for India	Which airlines the provider can sell, and what your agreement says

Whichever route you choose, the customer buys at your counter. So the first complaint lands on you.

What does IATA accreditation involve?

IATA is the airlines’ trade body. As of 17 October 2026, IATA’s accreditation page lists four levels: GoLite, GoStandard, GoEurozone and GoGlobal. For GoLite it says “No minimum financial guarantee required to issue air tickets”. GoStandard adds access to all IATA standard payment solutions.

The page says a unique code identifies an accredited agent and shows membership of the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP). It also describes a Single Sales Agency Agreement for selling tickets of several airlines, and a subscription with “a single annual fee only”. It doesn’t show the amount of that fee, so don’t let anyone quote you a number as if IATA had published it.

What does the India checklist ask for?

For India, IATA publishes a country checklist, AMS-CHECKLIST-0167. It lists 27 requirements, 9 of them mandatory. For a new application, GoLite, GoStandard and GoGlobal each require:

a legal business entity
owner or shareholder identification
proof of GST registration
trade registration
a PCI DSS certificate
a personnel certificate

Financial statements are mandatory for GoStandard and GoGlobal, and a financial guarantee is also listed for those two. Read IATA’s India Application Guide before you rely on any amount or rule from another source. After approval, IATA’s page says an accredited agent must tell IATA about changes in ownership, legal status, name, location and contact details, and about new branches.

Which business and tax registrations sit under it?

IATA’s checklist asks for a registered business entity. Which kind suits you is a question for a chartered accountant, because it changes your tax, liability and paperwork.

GST depends on turnover. Section 22(1) of the CGST Act says a supplier must register for GST where aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds twenty lakh rupees. Other limits apply in particular cases, and your accountant can tell you which ones fit you.

Air ticket agents also have their own valuation rule. CBIC’s valuation rules page (last updated 5 August 2025, according to the page) sets a deemed value for booking air tickets as an air travel agent: five per cent of the basic fare for domestic bookings and ten per cent for international bookings. That deemed value is a tax calculation. It isn’t a statement of what any agent earns. Ask your chartered accountant which provision applies to you and how it treats any separate service fee you charge.

Do you need Ministry of Tourism recognition?

It’s optional. In its Rajya Sabha reply of 12 December 2024, the Ministry described “a voluntary scheme”, but the reply doesn’t say what the scheme requires today. So read the Ministry’s current guidelines on tourism.gov.in before you trust a checklist from a consultant.

Your state may run its own registration too. Madhya Pradesh Tourism, for example, shows a travel agents directory with a registration link, but the page lists no rules or fees. Ask your state tourism department what applies to you.

How is air ticketing different from rail?

Rail ticketing through IRCTC has a fixed structure. IRCTC issues the ID after a Principal Service Provider registers you, and the agent charge is set by Indian Railways (Norms for Internet Cafe Scheme; Revised Agent Policy, effective 29 November 2019).

Air ticketing rests on airline agreements. The air rules cited here set no agent charge. And IRCTC doesn’t register a new retail agent directly. If you also want to sell rail tickets, SiOnline’s IRCTC agent registration page explains onboarding through a PSP, and its fees page lists the charges.

Who pays the refund on an agent booking?

The airline. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) text of February 2019 says that for a ticket bought through a travel agent or portal, “onus of refund shall lie with the airlines as agents are their appointed representatives”. That text gave airlines 21 working days to complete the refund process.

News On AIR reported on 26 February 2026 that DGCA has revised the refund norms, giving 14 working days and keeping the airline responsible for agent and portal bookings. The 14-day figure is the report’s, not the CAR text’s. Check the revision number, effective date and exact wording on dgca.gov.in before you quote a timeline to a customer.

Can you promise a name correction or a cancellation window?

Be careful here. The report also describes a 48-hour “look-in option” and free name correction within 24 hours of booking. But it ties the name correction to tickets booked directly on the airline’s website, and it says nothing about agent bookings. So don’t promise either to a customer you booked for. Ask your airline or provider which window applies, and get the answer in writing.

What to do at the counter

Tell the customer before booking who handles a cancellation and how long a refund can take.
Check every passenger name against the identity document before you confirm.
Keep the booking reference, the time of the cancellation request and the airline’s reply.
Pass refunds to the customer as soon as they reach you, and keep the record.

Say a customer comes back two weeks later and asks about a refund. If you kept the booking reference, the time of the request and the airline’s reply, you can tell them exactly where it stands. If you didn’t, you’ll be guessing, and guessing about someone’s money is a bad place to be.

How are air agents paid?

Nobody knows your number in advance, so be wary of anyone who says they do.

The GST valuation rule defines the basic fare by reference to the part of the fare on which commission is normally paid. It doesn’t say any airline pays you commission today. Whether a particular airline or provider pays you anything is set in your agreement. Treat anyone who quotes a monthly figure as guessing, and don’t accept a verbal income promise.

No public rule cited here sets a fee for air tickets. The February 2019 refund text capped the cancellation charge at the basic fare plus fuel surcharge and said this “will exclude any charges levied by the travel agent, which have been fully disclosed at the time of booking”. News On AIR reports a 2026 revision, so read the current text before you rely on that wording. And tell the customer your fee before they pay, not after.

What should you ask a provider in writing?

Send these by email or WhatsApp and pay only after you have the replies. Keep them.

Which airlines can I sell through your system, and who holds the appointment with each airline?
What do I pay to start, and what do I pay again later? Ask for each charge, its GST treatment and whether it can be refunded.
How is my wallet funded, is there a minimum balance, and how is a refund credited back to the wallet?
Who handles a cancellation, a name correction or a schedule change, and what are the cut-off times?
May I add my own service fee, and what must appear on the customer’s invoice?
What documents do you need from me, and what do you hold on file?
What happens to my wallet balance and records if I stop?

Don’t pay anyone who won’t answer in writing. And don’t send a password, an OTP or a card number to a provider’s staff on a call.

Questions agents ask

Is there a government licence for a flight ticket agent in India?

The public rules show none that applies to every agent. Ask the airline or IATA which approvals apply to you before you pay.

Do I need IATA accreditation to sell air tickets?

IATA accreditation gives an agent its own code and access to IATA’s settlement plan. Nothing in the sources makes it compulsory for every agent. If you work through a provider, ask which appointment the provider holds on your behalf.

How much does air ticket agent registration cost?

No public source gives one figure. IATA’s page doesn’t state the annual fee, and a provider sets its own charges. Ask for each charge, including GST and recurring charges, before you pay.

Who pays the refund on a flight booked through an agent?

The airline. The February 2019 CAR text and the 26 February 2026 News On AIR report both say agents are the airline’s appointed representatives. The 2019 text allowed 21 working days, and the report gives 14.

Sources and checks

Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Tourism: Registered and Unregistered Travel Agents in the Country, posted 12 December 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
IATA: Accreditation and India - Travel Agent checklist. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
CBIC: section 22 of the CGST Act, 2017 and the valuation rules page. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
Madhya Pradesh Tourism: Travel Agents & Tour Guides. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
DGCA: Civil Aviation Requirements, Section 3, Series M, Part II, February 2019 text, read on dgca.gov.in. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
News On AIR (Akashvani): DGCA revises ticket refund rules for airlines, 26 February 2026. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
IRCTC: Norms for Internet Cafe Scheme and Revised Agent Policy, w.e.f. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2026.

Facts on this page were last checked on 17 October 2026. Rules, fees and forms change. Confirm them at the source before you act, and ask a chartered accountant about tax.

Flight Ticket Agent Registration in India