Private carriers fleece pilgrims as AI bows out

Chennai: With Air India suddenly stopping its most popular flight in the Kuala Lumpur-Chennai sector in November, hundreds of Malaysian Tamils who were to take a pilgrimage to Sabarimala or visit India during December-January have been left high and dry.
Many of those who had planned trips in advance, and had even booked their tic­kets with AI, were forced to look at other options after their flight was cance­lled. They further met with the rude shock of having to shell out substantially more for tickets on other airlines — with the carriers having jacked up the fares.
“AI’s return fare was 1000 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and Jet Airways used to charge 1070 MYR. But after the AI flight was withdrawn, Jet Airways hiked its fare to 1400 MYR,” a Kuala Lumpur-based travel agent told Express over phone.
“We lost many regular customers, and several families that couldn’t afford the higher fares cancelled their trip. There have been about 300-400 such cancellations in the past two months. Many tourists also lost the advance they paid for hotels in India,” the agent said.
Other airlines like Air Asia are charging 1300 MYR and Malaysian Airlines 1500 MYR.
11/12/10 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: Airports Dec 2010, Foreign Dec 2010