Airlines hide consumer friendly info

In providing break-up of tariffs,most airlines have omitted some detail or the other.

A day ahead of the Directorate General of Civil Aviations (DGCA) Wednesday deadline requiring all domestic airlines to make fares across different sectors public,all domestic airlines,except for state-owned Air India,posted tariff data sheets on their websites. But,for a routine traveler,all of this read more like unprocessed data,and less of information.

In providing a break-up of tariffs on route basis,most airlines have omitted some or the other detail. For instance,on the IndiGo website,the Mumbai-Delhi fare sheet has 14 columns,first column specifying the distance between the two cities,the last column stating the surcharge being charged and the dozen columns in between representing as many fare levels. These dozen columns represent nine regular fare levels and three AP (advance purchase) fare levels. These are basically different fare buckets in the economy class with each bucket holding a specified number of seats. Also,the fine print states that these do not include passenger service fee,user development fee,transaction fee and service tax.

Similarly,a quick look at countrys leading carrier Jet Airways fare sheet reveals that the carrier has forgotten to mention fares on one of the busiest sector,Delhi-Mumbai. On some of the other links,it has posted half-baked information. Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines tariff sheet does not bother to explain to its customers the airline jargon used. And finally,theres a disclaimer in each of the fare sheets that these are subject to change without prior notice! State-owned Air India had not posted its tariff sheet online till 11:00 pm.

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Buckling under government pressure,domestic airlines had decided to publish advance fare break-up for the month in a consumer friendly manner on their website by 10:00 pm on Tuesday. The regulator had directed all airlines to put up fares on their websites by Wednesday evening,failing which it warned of action.

The airlines representative body Federation of Indian Airlines had,in a written statement,said that the new format will enable passengers to see online the various fares offered by each member airline on every single route. The data sheets,however,do not specify how much seats are available in each price bucket,critical information for travelers in deciding how quickly they have to book their tickets.

All FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) members have decided that they will make available the fare-related information in a consumer-friendly format. Effective 10pm today,the eight FIA members websites will display tariff sheets indicating the range of fares on all routes said the FIA statement.

The move by airlines to display the fares comes almost a fortnight after the DGCA had first issued an order to the effect. Our aim is to bring transparency in the fare mechanism so that consumer knows the maximum and minimum fares on any route, said a senior civil aviation ministry official. Airlines had hiked fares by 20-25 per cent on key routes during November month as compared to last year,and had dodged a DGCA order to make information on fares public.

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