Airlines to display actual fares on websites

Mumbai: There’s some good news for air travellers — there won’t be any more confusion on actual air fares while booking a ticket from websites or portals. Domestic airlines will have to simplify their fare structure on their websites and portals after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took a tough stand on Monday.
“Despite several reminders, airlines never fall in line and continue to display ‘taxes’ while showing the total air fare amount, misguiding passengers that the complete tax portion is going to the government kitty, which is not true,” said a senior DGCA official on condition of anonymity.
It was learnt that airlines have started changing fare structure displayed on their websites. Airlines have been told to display fares as consolidated amount (total fare) and then give the break-up rather than the other way around.
Airlines usually display basic fares and other charges like fuel surcharge, congestion fee and passenger service fee (PSF) as taxes. But in reality, only PSF goes to the government, while the rest goes to the airlines. The fuel surcharge, which is around Rs 2,700 depending on the distance, is almost double of the basic fare, except in promotional and apex fares.
Recently, JetLite, IndiGo and GoAir have slashed their fuel surcharges for a limited period to around Rs 1,290-Rs 1,999 from an average of Rs 2,700.
Analysts said the airline business is different where fares go up and down, depending on that particular plane load factor on that particular flight. It generally varies from day to day, even peak and non-peak flights. Moreover, the current websites of most airlines confuse passengers as the total fare come much later in a ticket.
17/02/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2009