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Ethical issues confronting travel agents

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Abstract

This article provides an overview of current and prospective ethical issues facing commercial (as opposed to leisure) travel agents. Industry wide ethical issues include conflicting pressures from suppliers and clients, competency requirements for agents and misleading advertising and sales claims (“vaporware” in industry jargon). Issues with travel suppliers include calculation and payment of commissions, fare loopholes, frequent flyer plans and the use and abuse of benefits directed to individual employees. Issues with corporate clients of travel agents include hidden preferred carriers or suppliers, client pressure to use fare loopholes and hidden relationships with corporate travel consultants. Future issues include protecting client privacy, free riding, and divergent international business practices.

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References

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  • Klein, A. N.: 1991, ‘Competition without Apology: Market Power and Entry in the Deregulated airline Industry’,Regulation, Summer, pp. 68–75.

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  • Stark, A.: 1993, ‘What's the Matter with Business Ethics’,Harvard Business Review May–June, pp. 38–48.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Legal Studies Department, The Wharton School, 19104-6369, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Thomas W. Dunfee & Bruce M. Black

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Dunfee
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  2. Bruce M. Black
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Thomas W. Dunfee is the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His current research interests focus on social contract theory and business ethics and on developing ethical standards for business transactions. He has published articles in the Business Ethics Quarterly,the Journal of Business Ethics,the Business and Professional Ethics Journal,and the Journal of Social Philosophyin addition to a variety of business and legal journals. He has consulted to a number of corporate clients and to several trade associations.

Bruce M. Black is founder and president of McCord Travel Management. Since founding the company in 1980, he has led its growth to one of the 30 largest travel management firms in the United States, with annual sales of more than $100 million. Black is one of the inaugural members of the University of Illinois at Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and is on the board of the International Theatre Festival of Chicago. He is also active in the exploration of a variety of industry related issues on behalf of the Super Regional Group of agencies.

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Dunfee, T.W., Black, B.M. Ethical issues confronting travel agents. J Bus Ethics 15, 207–217 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705588

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705588

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