Mumbai: With the peak travel season well over, domestic airlines in India have begun luring fliers with so-called deep discounts.
Though the promotional offers have helped the airlines increase the buzz, industry insiders claim that the fliers who actually managed to win a deep-discounted ticket are barely a handful.
On Wednesday, hours after SpiceJet announced its 'monsoon sale' offer for Rs 444 per ticket, rival IndiGo came out with similar offer with fares staring Rs 789. A couple of days back, full-service carrier Jet Airways had announced up to 20% discount in economy flights.
The fare war was renewed when IndiGo, AirAsia and SpiceJet announced discounted fares targeted to create impulsive demand when vacation season ends and school and colleges reopen.
After the second fortnight of May, while SpiceJet offered one-way fares starting Rs 511, IndiGo offered tickets for Rs 800. AirAsia India, announcing its two-year celebrations, halved the fares on several routes. Not to be left behind, Air India came up with 'super offer' of Rs 1,499 fare on its domestic routes.
Concerned that passengers are not getting the promised discounted fares on the offer, Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), a passenger body on Wednesday made a complaint with the Ministry of Civil aviation (MoCA) and aviation regulator DGCA complaining about the advertising 'gimmick' related to SpiceJet monsoon offer, where fares starting from Rs 444 are available for those booking between June 22 and 26. "We received several complaints from fliers who said they could not get tickets at the offer rate as early as 10:20 am on Wednesday. Not only SpiceJet but all the airlines are indulging in similar activities from time to time. I am still not able to understand what purpose does it serve for the airlines to come up with screaming full page advertisement in national dailies but not offering the same to the fliers" said Sudhakara Reddy, president of APAI.
23/06/16 Shahkar Abidi/DNA
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Though the promotional offers have helped the airlines increase the buzz, industry insiders claim that the fliers who actually managed to win a deep-discounted ticket are barely a handful.
On Wednesday, hours after SpiceJet announced its 'monsoon sale' offer for Rs 444 per ticket, rival IndiGo came out with similar offer with fares staring Rs 789. A couple of days back, full-service carrier Jet Airways had announced up to 20% discount in economy flights.
The fare war was renewed when IndiGo, AirAsia and SpiceJet announced discounted fares targeted to create impulsive demand when vacation season ends and school and colleges reopen.
After the second fortnight of May, while SpiceJet offered one-way fares starting Rs 511, IndiGo offered tickets for Rs 800. AirAsia India, announcing its two-year celebrations, halved the fares on several routes. Not to be left behind, Air India came up with 'super offer' of Rs 1,499 fare on its domestic routes.
Concerned that passengers are not getting the promised discounted fares on the offer, Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), a passenger body on Wednesday made a complaint with the Ministry of Civil aviation (MoCA) and aviation regulator DGCA complaining about the advertising 'gimmick' related to SpiceJet monsoon offer, where fares starting from Rs 444 are available for those booking between June 22 and 26. "We received several complaints from fliers who said they could not get tickets at the offer rate as early as 10:20 am on Wednesday. Not only SpiceJet but all the airlines are indulging in similar activities from time to time. I am still not able to understand what purpose does it serve for the airlines to come up with screaming full page advertisement in national dailies but not offering the same to the fliers" said Sudhakara Reddy, president of APAI.
23/06/16 Shahkar Abidi/DNA
