Heavy Cancellation Charges in Airlines – A Big Concern

Insight Bureau: A Parliamentary committee on Wednesday advocated a system for levying uniform charges by all airlines for cancellation of air tickets. The committee also expressed concern over the duty rates not being regulated by the Government.

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture Department tabled in Rajya Sabha lauded the guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued to all airlines/airports to provide facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations or delays.

According to the committee, there is a need to rationalize the fee rates for cancellation of air tickets. A higher limit should be fixed for the fee to be charged from the passengers in case of cancellation of the ticket. The Parliamentary Committee expressed concern over the Ministry’s reply that the ticket cancellation charges are not regulated by the Government. This has resulted in non-uniformity in the tariff rates charged by different airlines.

The report said, “The committee considers that the origin and destination of flights of different airline companies for a particular region are the same and also the duration of the flights is almost identical. But their ticket cancellation charges differ. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why the committee recommends that the cancellation fee for all airlines should be the same.

In a separate report, the committee expressed serious concern over a large number of vacancies in the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The committee said that these vacancies are bound to have a serious impact on the working efficiency of ATCOs (Air Traffic Controllers). The committee observed that there is an urgent need to fill up the vacancies of ATCOs. Keeping in view the steps taken by the Ministry in this regard, the Committee has recommended that the time schedule for meeting the procedural requirements should be strictly adhered to.