Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) received complaints from a few domestic airlines in March 2012 that certain on-line travel portals were selling airline tickets under opaque/bargain fare wherein the identity of the airline and flight details were not being displayed upfront. DGCA had stepped in and issued a Public Notice directing the airlines to immediately withdraw participation in any such scheme where the complete information about the carrier is not revealed upfront. At present, no scheduled domestic airline is participating in opaque/bargain fares and online travel portals have removed these from their respective websites, as per information furnished by the DGCA.
However, no complaint of fictitious booking has been received by DGCA. DGCA has issued Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section 3, series M, Part III on Computer Reservation System (CRS)/Global Distribution System (GDS), which has the provision that subscriber shall not make fictitious reservations in the CRS/GDS and shall not resort to any abusive ticketing practice.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri K.C. Venugopal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
31/12/12 Press Information Bureau
