According to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, they have received around 1000 complaints against Air India relating to fare refund, flight overbooking, staff behaviour etc. in 3 months.
According to a statement given by Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh on Monday, approximately one thousand passenger complaints have been received against Air India over the course of the past three months. These complaints relate to a variety of issues, including the refunding of fares, the overbooking of flights, and the behaviour of staff.
On January 27, the Tata Group successfully gained control of Air India, following their victory on October 8 of last year in the bid for the airline.
In his written response to a question posed in Rajya Sabha, Singh disclosed that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has been receiving grievances related to air transport, including Air India, on various issues such as refund of fares, flight issues, staff behaviour, baggage issues, overbooking of flights, etc.
He added that Air India had received approximately one thousand complaints of this nature over the course of the last three months.
Action against uncompensated denial to board
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on June 14 that it had imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Air India. The action was taken for denying boarding to customers who held valid tickets and then failing to provide statutory compensation to those passengers.
According to DGCA regulations published in 2010, the airline must first ask volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for specific benefits when the number of passengers who have tickets for a flight and arrive at the airport for boarding on time is greater than the number of seats on the flight. If there aren’t enough volunteers, they can be offered a ticket for a different trip that leaves within an hour of the first one. It is necessary to compensate passengers who are refused boarding and cannot be given a ticket for a different flight leaving within an hour of the first flight.
DGCA’s spot checks found that the airline does not have a policy on boarding being denied to a flyer.
The airlines have been reported to be engaging in unfair practices. Even when a traveller arrives at the airport on time for their trip, they are still denied boarding by the airline, according to a statement that was released in May by the aviation regulator, DGCA.
In an email sent out on May 2nd, the regulator requested that all Indian carriers pay compensation and amenities to passengers who had been denied boarding. If they did not comply, the agency threatened to impose financial penalties on the carriers.
