Those planning to head out of the city for the long Independence Day weekend will be hit hard by a country-wide bandh by travel agents on Thursday.

The bandh has been called to protest the airlines’ decision not to pay commission on tickets sold by agents from October 1. Train bookings will also be affected because the agents will not open their offices.

According to an estimate, nearly 12,000 travellers are expected to fly out of the city for the weekend.

A tour operator said about 20 per cent of these travellers would make last-minute bookings and another five to six per cent would want to cancel or reschedule their trip.

Mohini Bhawnani, 76, who was planning to take a flight to London on Thursday, postponed her journey. “I am travelling alone and want to be able to contact my travel agent in an emergency,” she said.

“We had no choice since the airlines are not ready to change their stand,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents Federation of India.

Representatives of travel agents will meet airlines’ officials in Mumbai on August 14 over the issue. “We will ask them to introduce a transaction fee and not lower the ticket price below the price offered by agents,” said Devendra Parekh, the chairman (eastern) of the Travel Agents Association of India.