Dear Travel Colleague,

We are delighted to announce that Sama has recently obtained approvals from GACA to operate flights within Saudi Arabia, with a base in Dammam, and that our flights are now open for sale. As sales through the travel trade are going to be a very vital and large part of our distribution, we now need to urgently sort out some administrative issues, so that you can all start selling Sama products and services immediately.

Firstly, with regard to distribution channels, we obviously have the usual airline direct channels – our own website, our sales shops, and the Contact Centre (based in Riyadh). However, because we view the relationship with you the travel trade as crucial, we have also launched an internet based Travel Agents Portal (TAP). At a later stage we may feature as a Basic Booking Product (BBP) in Galileo, but this is not yet decided, and isn’t available at present.

Secondly, with regard to methods of payment by yourselves in the travel trade, our preferred method of payment would be for credit cards – Visa, Mastercard and American Express. These can be your customers’ credit cards, or your own corporate cards.

However, unlike other Low Cost Carriers worldwide, we would like to promote sales via the travel trade, so we have also set up two alternatives:

1) A travel agents credit arrangement, with either a cash deposit, or a bank draft (with a oneoff administration fee of SAR1000). You can sell up to this credit limit (our systems will prevent sales above the credit limit), or until this credit limit is topped up or increased. The minimum cash or bank draft is for SAR10,000, or your expected fortnightly sales on Sama, whichever is higher. Remittances are fortnightly. Please bear in mind that, regardless of the method of payment, with our truly exceptional fares, there will be no refunds., so please ensure your staff and your/our customers are fully briefed.

2) SAMBA e-wallet (coming soon). This we believe will be your preferred option. It is an online account with SAMBA, that enables you to pay for bookings subject to funds being available in the account. You do not need to bank with SAMBA to obtain this, you can have a ‘virtual’ account there.
*Please contact your local branch for further details.

Thirdly, it is important that all of your staff are fully aware of Sama products and services, so that you can give the best possible information to our and your customers. We will have a Contact Centre, with a separate Travel Trade support unit, telephone 9200 06688, as well as a city sales office (a permanent one in Olaya Street Riyadh, a temporary office in the Dhahran International Hotel Dhahran, and a temporary office in the Moevenpick Hotel, AlAmoudi centre in Jeddah.), to help support you and your teams. However, especially in the early stages, I am sure you will have many questions. I would therefore ask you to draw your team’s attention to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), which are available on the Travel Agents Portalor as a fax response on the phones in our Travel Trade support unit. Hopefully this will answer many of your queries.

Finally, may I suggest that you action the following, to ensure that you can sell Sama products and services as soon as seats go on sale:

Sales Agency Agreement

Schedule 1 to Sales Agency Agreement

Application for TAP logins

1) For a single travel agency with a single location, you will need to:

a) Complete the above ‘Application for Logins’ above, and email to support@flysama.com , or fax +966 (1) 2630098, in order for us to give you a TAP signin code. Note that, unless there are major reasons why not, we will only give one signin code per location initially. Individual’s signin codes will be processed later.

b) Download the Sales Agency Agreement attached (including Schedule 1), or request a copy from support@flysama.com . If this Sales Agreement is acceptable, please have it signed by the duly authorized person, and forwarded to Sama, together with either your approved SAMBA e-wallet arrangements, or copies of the cash deposit or bank draft (plus a separate oneoff administration fee of SAR1000). Only one Sales Agreement per Travel Agency is required. You will also need to attach copies of your Commercial Registration and government Travel Agency certificate.

c) Once we have received your TAP login application, a signed Sales Agency Agreement, your financial arrangements, the SAR1000 oneoff administration fee, and the Commercial Registration/Travel Agency Certificate – then we will allocate you a TAP login code, and you can start selling immediately.

2) For multiple locations/travel agency chains, this MUST be actioned at the Head Office level. You will need to:

a) complete the ‘Head Office’ section of the ‘Application for Logins’, available above, giving your head office details

b) separately complete the ’Agency’ section for each and every location for your agency – please copy as necessary.

c) Return both of the above to support@flysama.com , to obtain the necessary TAP signin codes.

d) Download the Sales Agency Agreement attached (including Schedule 1), or request a copy from support@flysama.com . Only one Sales Agreement is required per travel agents chain. If acceptable, this should be signed by the duly authorized person, and forwarded to Sama.

e) Decide on how you will structure the SAMBA e-wallet or cash deposit/bank draft. If you have this i) at Head Office Level, just one total amount, then you can sell up to this overall level from all of your offices. Once your various offices cumulatively reach that level, then none of your locations will be able to sell Sama, until this credit limit is either topped up or increased. However, if you ii) have a separate credit limit for each location, then only a location exceeding that credit limit will be inhibited from selling Sama. This is your choice.

f) Once you have decided on the credit limit structure, please indicate this in your response to Sama, together with the signed Sales Agreement, and the appropriate SAMBA e-wallet arrangements, or cash deposit/bank draft (plus a one-off SAR1000 administration fee).

g) You will also need to attach copies of your Commercial Registration, and government Travel Agency Certificate.

Thank you for your support and understanding, and everyone at Sama looks forward to working with you all. We also look forward to you selling Sama products and services as quickly as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself Samer Atawi, as Sama Chief Commercial Officer. My email contact is samer.atawi@flysama.com

I am sure you already know:

Syed Jameel Hussaini, Regional Sales Manager, Central Province,
E-mail: Jameel.Hussaini@flysama.com

Noman Syed, Sales Manager, Western Province,
E-mail: Noman.Syed@flysama.com  


Best Regards
Samer Atawi

Samer.atawi@flysama.com
www.flysama.com