Biman ticket cannot be booked without passengers' information: Minister

No ticket of Biman Bangladesh Airlines can be booked without passengers' information, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan said today (13 June).

"So, there is no scope for anyone to book multiple tickets at once without passengers' information," he said while responding to a query raised by Jatiya Party lawmaker Md Mujibul Haque which was tabled at the Jatiya Sangsad.

Faruk Khan said passengers can purchase tickets of Biman Bangladesh Airlines from Biman's own website, GDS, mobile app, call centre and Biman's own sales centre as well as any authorized domestic and foreign travel agents. 

Any agency will not be able to book any ticket without passenger information, he said, adding if an agency books ticket with false or fake information, fines and other measures will be taken against them. 

Besides, the minister said, every ticket has a booking period and if it is not purchased within the period, the ticket will be automatically cancelled.

Any airline business has peak season and off-peak season, said Faruk Khan, adding when the pressure of passengers stay low, some seats may remain vacant, but it is not the scenario of the entire year.

There is a random allegation against Biman Bangladesh Airlines authorities that when one goes to buy a ticket even though the seats remain vacant, he or she is told that there is no ticket.

Seats are often left vacant due to passengers' not arriving at the airport on time despite having confirmed tickets, many passengers having fake visas as well as documents and legal complications from immigration authorities, he said.

Besides, because of load penalty on some routes, some seats are kept unsold for which the seats remain vacant, he said.

So, the allegations "Biman's ticket is not available, even if seats remain vacant; most of the time the Biman flies with vacant seats" turns out not to be true.