Indigo Airlines literally threw flyers under the bus by disrupting their travel plans through inordinate delays resulting from their non-adherence to flight duty timing limitation statutes. It looks like clever orchestration to force the government to withdraw the directive, and they have been successful as well. It may be a temporary victory for Indigo Airlines, because the government doesn’t take blackmail lightly; there would be repercussions, and it will damage brand Indigo in the long run.
The whole issue boils down to one simple fact: ticket pricing and surge policies.
Frankly, the aviation industry is very unscrupulous when it comes to surge pricing; the price differentials are seriously obscene. Routes which are priced at Rs 4,000 skyrocket to Rs 40,000 when the demand is high. Cancellation and refund policies in the fine print are ridiculous and seem to be authored by Nigerian scam professionals. Almost zero refund reaches the travellers’ accounts after all those Shylockian deductions. It is more than high time that the government takes the bull by the horns and asks airlines to streamline their pricing policies. Price bands should be clearly defined; the base price may vary a bit, but there should be no room for price gouging. We can’t let this randomness rule the roost forever.
Time to co-opt Mr Gopinath (Air Deccan, remember?) in the DGCA and implement the low-cost airline concept in letter and spirit.
