Consumer Affairs Ministry Flags Concerns Over Airline Malpractices

The Consumer Affairs Ministry has raised concerns over unfair trade practices used by airlines and online travel aggregators to manipulate airfares.

The ministry views airlines and online travel agents” use of various malpractices, such as displaying every seat as “paid,” denying boarding, and delaying refunds, as intimidating.

According to Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, these practices weaken consumer autonomy and manipulate decision-making on airline online interfaces.

Such “deceptive and manipulative conduct by using dark patterns in online interfaces unfairly” wrongly influences travelers” interests and is an offense under the Consumer Protection Act.

As complaints regarding this soar, the government has decided to take action against airline companies, albeit with much less impact than expected.

According to a Times of India report, despite the government”s efforts, it has failed to turn airlines to the right path, with Minister Singh flagging concerns over the grievance measures adopted by the airlines.

He points out that consumer complaints are not addressed properly and travelers are not well compensated. In the past year, the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has received almost 10,000 complaints regarding airlines.

The ministry will flag its concerns before the CEOs of all domestic airlines and online travel aggregators in a meeting that is likely to be scheduled in a fortnight. According to the NCH data, nearly 41% of the grievances are to the denial of refunds by airlines, followed by deficiency in services (15%). Around 5% of the complaints are concerned with the denial of boarding of travelers with valid tickets.