Domestic airlines have collectively paid ₹2.84 crore as compensation to 1.7 lakh passengers till June 30 for the cancellation of 4,643 flights this year.
Data provided by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to the Lok Sabha on August 2 shows that 27,497 complaints were received regarding ticketing fare and refunds, staff or crew behaviour, flight delays, baggage issues among others since 2016.
Of these, 15,531 were filed through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System portal of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and 1,532 through the Integrated Grievance Redress Mechanism portal of the Department of Consumer Affairs and AirSewa portal of MoCA.
Apart from this, 10,434 complaints were filed through AirSewa’s mobile application and portal. Stakeholder and category-wise records maintained by it show that till date, 7,251 complaints were received against airlines since November 25, 2016, the date of commencement of AirSewa.
Topping the list among these are complaints of flight delays at 2,233; ticketing, fares and refunds at 1,753; check-in and boarding at 982; baggage at 796; and about crew and staff behaviour at 377. As many as 271 passengers complained of bad food, 122 of maintenance, 75 of cleanliness and 42 complaints were regarding persons with disability. There were 600 other complaints over and above this.
The Ministry said that as per the provisions of ‘Refund of Airline Tickets to Passengers of Public Transport Undertakings’, under no circumstances would an airline levy cancellation charges beyond the basic fare plus fuel surcharge, nor shall the airline levy any additional charge to process the refund.
Air India has paid the highest amount as compensation in lieu of flight cancellations till June 30, this year paying ₹1 crore so far. In 2015, the national carrier paid ₹2.86 crore as compensation to 50,422 passengers for 1,363 flights cancelled. In 2016, it paid ₹1.92 crore to 41,676 passengers for 1,083 cancellations. Similarly in 2017, it reimbursed ₹1.90 crore to 35,925 passengers affected by 1,427 flights.
In 2017, Spicejet with 568 cancellations paid 39,149 passengers a sum of ₹2.30 crore. This year it has aleady paid ₹88 lakh to 15,305 passengers for the 274 flights cancelled. With 1,889 cancellations, Indigo paid 1,10,576 passengers ₹5.01 lakh.
Likewise, Air Asia, which paid ₹45.25 lakh to 2,646 passengers for 44 cancellations in 2017, has this year given ₹19.06 lakh for 28 cancellations to 2028 passengers. With 57 cancellations, Vistara paid 7,092 passengers ₹16.99 lakh. In 2017, it paid ₹7.05 lakh for 109 cancellations to 8,618 passengers.
Jet Airways (including JetLite) has this year spent ₹3.66 lakh in compensating 7,902 for 442 flights cancelled. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the airline spent ₹63.08 lakh, ₹83.91 lakh and ₹29.90 lakh as compensation.