Consumer Complaint against Airlines

Airlines Complaints

Indian Airlines Industry has recently become one of the fastest-growing airlines industries in the world. They generate a huge amount of income and employment. There are about 450 airports and more than 1000 registered aircrafts in India today.

But nothing can ruin a holiday than diligently planning a whole trip with excitement, only to arrive disappointedly at the airport to find out that there is some glitch.

The most common airline complaints in 2019 was lost baggage. According to a recent survey, an average of 1 in 150 people have their checked baggage lost or left behind every year. The other common airline complaints include, promised refund not given, ticket/flight cancelled without prior knowledge, rude staff behaviour etc.

If you have faced these kinds of problems with your airline, you must have brought it to airline authorities' notice by complaining. In this article, we have mentioned India's famous airlines, and the types of complaints the airlines' passengers face with them.

FAMOUS AIRLINES IN INDIA

1. Go Air: Go Air has secured a spot in the list of best Airlines in India. It was founded in November 2005 by Jeh Wadia, an Indian industrialist. In October 2017, it was India's fifth largest airline and had a considerable market share of 8.4%. The airline is a fully-owned subsidiary of Wadia Group and started its operations in November 2005. The airline operates 230 daily flights to 30 significant destinations, which have 24 domestic and 6 international destinations. The airline has its hubs at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kannur, and Kolkata.

2. Air India Express: Air India Express is an economical airline having its headquarters in Kerala. Airlines are operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's national carrier Air India. It runs around 649 flights per week to 33 Middle East and Southeast destinations. The airline has a fleet of aircraft 25 Boeing 737-800 and carries approximately 4.3 million passengers every year.

3. Spice Jet: Spice Jet is a low-cost airline having its headquarters in Gurugram, India. Initially, in 1994 it was established as air taxi provider ModiLuft and then later in 2004, it was renamed Spice Jet by an Indian entrepreneur and started its operation in May 2005. According to data in March 2019, Spicejet was the second-largest airline in India and had 13.6% of the market share in the number of passengers. Spicejet has a fleet of Boeing 737 and Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. It operates 312 flights daily to 55 destinations, which include 7 international and 47 domestic destinations. Many flights are operated from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

4. IndiGo: Indigo was founded in 2006 by Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal as a private company and had its headquarters in Gurugram. The airline had its first aircraft in July 2006, and it started its operations in 2016. By 2012 it became the largest Indian carrier, and in 2015 it went limited and issued a share to the public. Indigo has an immense fleet size in India and a maximum domestic share. Also, Indigo is the largest individual Asian low-cost carrier in passengers' carried and jet fleet size. Maximum flights of Indigo are operated from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.

5. Air India: Air India is a very own national carrier of India and was founded by J.R.D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932. It has its headquarters in New Delhi, and after the second world war, it became a public limited company. Afterward, it was renamed Air India and is owned by Air India Limited, a government-owned enterprise. With a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, the airline serves 94 international and domestic destinations. Air India has two sister companies Air India Express and Alliance Air, which operates in India and Asian destinations.

6. Air Asia India: Air Asia India started as a joint venture with AirAsia Berhad and Tata Sons. AirAsia Berhad has a 49% stake, and Tata sons have the remaining 51%. It started its operations on 12 July 2014 from Bangalore and has a market share of 6.5%. With a fleet of Airbus A 320-200 aircraft, it serves 24 destinations.

TYPES OF AIRLINES COMPLAINTS

Indian Airlines has seen one of the best growth among all airline industries of this world, but with all this growth and rapid development, our aviation sector has also experienced many kinds of turbulence.

Among 1000s of Indian airline companies, some of the most famous airlines such as AirIndia, Spicejet etc. have seen their customers regularly filing a complaint against them.

Some widespread airline complaints include rude behavior of staff, refund not given, and baggage lost. Apart from this, many airlines have faced aircraft turn-around times, which results in delays in flight for its passengers. Here are some common types of airline complaints:

1. Customer Service
In the past few years, many passengers of some highly reputed airlines have shared their experiences where they had to face the rude behavior of the airline's customer service representatives. Most passengers faced rude behavior, absent onboard services, and poor language skills from the airline's representatives in these kinds of complaints.

2. Flight Delay
In 2019, the Air Passengers Association president accepted that many airlines are facing aircraft turn-around time issues. These turn-around time issues are the main reason behind the delay of flights, which has left many passengers frustrated. Many top airline customers have reported that they were not informed about their flight's updated timings by the airline industry. Thus, failing to use emails or SMS services to inform their customers has made flight delays a pervasive and frustrating issue for consumers in almost all the major cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai etc.

3. Booking and Refund
Another prevalent issue faced by many air passengers is related to airline industries' booking and refund conditions. The most-reported complaint under this category is the lack of flexibility in tickets where airline industries usually decline to refund the amount if something unexpected happens, such as illness or accident of a family member. Apart from this, many famous airlines are reported for being very slow in the procedure of a promised refund. Due to this, passengers have to struggle, and sometimes they are not appropriately compensated. Moreover in recent times of pandemic the most common consumer complaint was that passengers are not getting refund inspite of the fact that their flights were cancelled by the Airlines due to Covid-19 pandemic.

4. Lost Baggage
Lost baggage is one of the most frequently experienced and common issues faced by air passengers in Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata. The airline industries have ignored the inconvenience faced by their customers in case of misplaced luggage. For the past few years and indeed, it has left many passengers upset and disappointed. Many customers have claimed that their lost or misplaced luggage carried their valuables, urgent medications etc. but they have not been compensated appropriately by the airlines.

5. Cleanliness of Cabins
Many airline industries of today's time claim to be more aware of the cleanliness of their cabins, but many passengers of these airlines have actively reported their concern about cleanliness and hygiene. Apart from the poor condition of cabins, cleanliness of washrooms and dirty seats are also some of the most common issues faced by these airline industries' passengers.

5. Meals
Onboard catering has always remained a concerning area for airline industries, which directly results in the passengers' disappointment with the meals offered to them. Many passengers have been served the wrong food and the food quality has also remained low compared to passengers' expectations.

6. Hidden Charges
The bulk of customers' anger is aimed at low-cost airlines that have additional hidden charges that disturb the trip's budget. Such airlines have complicated ancillary fee rules which customers have to read.

7. Change of Aircraft
In recent years there is a trend among some customers where they specifically book preferred seats in preferred aircraft but they feel very dissatisfied when they come to know that they have to change the plane and their preferred seats have been changed.

How to resolve Airlines complaints?

1. File support ticket/send an email:
You can always contact airlines through their official website by going to their contact us section and by sending them an email. Customer service emails of some leading Airlines are:

Air India Express - customersupport@airindiaexpress.in
Spice Jet - custrelations@spicejet.com
Go Air - feedback@goair.in
Vistata - custrelations@airvistara.com

2. Call Customer support:
All these airlines have a 24*7 customer care number who are always willing to help the customer. To resolve these complaints, you can always call their toll-free customer service numbers. The customer care numbers of some of top airlines in India are :

Indigo Customer Care No. - 0124 617 3838
GoAir Customer Care No. - 1860 210 0999
AirIndia Customer Care No. - 1860 233 1407
SpiceJet Customer Care No. - 096540 03333
AirAsia Customer Care No. - 080 4666 2222
Vistara Customer Care No. - 092892 28888
AirCosta Customer Care No. - 1800-4250-0666

3. Report to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA):
If the Airlines is not willing to help or acting aloof at any stage then the consumer can file a complaint with a Government Agency that oversees air travel. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the governing body overseeing air travel in India.

4. Send Legal Notice:
Consumers can send legal notices to Airlines in case it is unable to resolve his complaint. It is one of the efficient ways to handle the issue legally. Check below to know how to send a legal notice to Airlines?

Step 1: Firstly, get a legal notice drafted by a lawyer.
Step 2: Check it properly and make sure it is signed by lawyer.
Step 3: Keep a copy of it for future purposes.
Step 4: Send the legal notice to Airlines by registered post.
Step 5: Keep the slip or delivery report for evidence.

5. File consumer forum case:
Consumer forum deals with consumer complaints and you should approach the consumer forum if you feel that your rights as a consumer have been violated.

If Airlines is not responding to your complaints even after sending legal notice by a lawyer then you should file a case against it in a consumer court.

Here is how you can file a case in the consumer court?

Step 1: Intimate the aggrieved party via legal notice.
Step 2: Draft the consumer complaint
Step 3: Attach all the relevant documents and proofs to support your complaint.
Step 4: Select the appropriate court for filing the complaint.
Step 5: Pay the prescribed court fee that is required to be paid along with the complaint.
Step 6: Submit the case along with the affidavit & fees in the court.

Flying in an airline is often a memorable experience, but sometimes it can be memorable for all wrong reasons, and we have mentioned many of those reasons above. Once again to summarize, it is to be noted that the first point of contact should be the airlines itself. Customer satisfaction is as important to airlines as it is to other businesses.

The airlines have allotted separate ticket desks, lounges and baggage claim sections to help the consumers. If this does not solve the problem then the consumer should file a written complaint to the airline. This will act as a proof that you did something from your side in later stages and moreover put pressure on the airlines.

However if the consumer is still left stranded with nowhere else to go then the consumers can always file a consumer complaint at Voxya. We at Voxya, generally receive about 1000s of complaints related to these Airlines in a month.

So how do we actually resolve these airline complaints? We start a social media campaign and then send an email to the company to resolve the complaint amicably. Moreover if strict actions need to be taken then we draft a legal notice and send it to the concerned airline.

Most Common Issue Reported for Airlines Complaints

Tickets/Flights canceled

Boarding Issues

Refund not given

Staff misbehaved

Damaged Baggage

Fight delay

Changed Seat number

Amount deducted but ticket was not booked

Double amount charged

Fraud by booking agents

Denied Boarding and Mental Harrasment (Spicejet) ^Open

Reached SpiceJet gate at *:** AM for a *:** AM Delhi-Jammu flight on Sept *, **** (PNR: VFCH*Q). Though only * minutes late, I was rudely and unapologetically denied boarding. My luggage was also deboarded, causing further delays and complicati...

Sep 26, 2023 by Abhishek Baru

Refund isuue (Fly Dubai) ^Open

I booked my ticket from entebbe to istanbul but due medical issue we were unable to fly and we cancelled the flight * days before the departure date i made so many complains to fly dubai to refund my money but they did'nt gave me any relevant ...

Sep 25, 2023 by SONIA SOHI

Full refund on hotel cancellation despite policy (Cleartrip Pvt Ltd) ^Open

I have bookeed hotel accomoadation (stay city London for my trip to London from *nd October till *th of October, **** on **th September **** through clear trip app. After reading the cancellation policy on the portal that the accommodation ca...

Sep 22, 2023 by Pallavi Chhajed

AirAsia International flight got rescheduled twice and on ticket cancelation the refund is not given (AirAsia) ^Open

Me And My Friends (* People) Booked Return Tickets From Cebu (Philippines) To Chennai (India) For **th Oct ****. A Week Back The Flight Got Rescheduled To **th Oct. I Tried To Cancel The Flights But Since Airasia does Not Have Customer Support ...

Sep 22, 2023 by Kenith Aiyappa

AirAsia International flight got rescheduled twice and the latest rescheduled date is not feasible f (AirAsia) ^Open

Me and my friends (* people) booked return tickets from Cebu (Philippines) to Chennai (India) for **th Oct ****. A week back the flight got rescheduled to **th Oct. I tried to cancel the flights but since Airasia does not have customer support ...

Sep 20, 2023 by Kenith Aiyappa

Flight cancelled by Airline Refund not received yet (Spicejet Air Line) ^Open

I have booked a ticket with Spicejet on **.**.**** having PNR EYETSM. The flight was cancelled by Airline , but refunds not recd till date . Airline promised to refund , but not issued till date....

Sep 20, 2023 by Manish kumar

Alliance Air Compensation Request for Flight Delay Flight Number Date (Alliance Air) ^Open

I am writing to bring to your attention the unsatisfactory experience I had during my recent journey with Alliance Air. I (along with my spouse) was a passenger on Flight Number *I***, traveling from Bangalore to Hyderabad (PNR: A*LF*N) would l...

Sep 19, 2023 by Vinay Totla

Money paid to indigo airlines for flight re scheduling but ticket never got delivered (Indigo Air lines) ^Open

I had booked indigo ticket for * passengers from Bangalore to Dehradun for ** of Oct . Since I had to reschedule i splitter the one into two. After splitting was done i re scheduled tickets for my son and wife and paid the difference and resche...

Sep 16, 2023 by vinod khanduri

Missed Flight Due to Medical Emergency CCU to Male (Indigo Air lines) ^Open

I am filing this formal complaint to address the unfortunate circumstances surrounding our recent flight booking from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport (CCU) to Male, scheduled for September **, ****, through Indigo Airlines. The purpose of th...

Sep 15, 2023 by Suprime Bakshi

Did not get refund (Make My Trip) ^Open

I have been having a long standing issue for the past * months. I will summarize the issue and problem at hand first followed by make my trip’s customer support, which has been absolutely shit. Issue: *. I had booked a round trip flight...

Sep 14, 2023 by Vijay Jagannathan Thirumalai Parthasarathy

Vistara Flight cancelled without intimation (Vistara Airlines) ^Open

My wife and *.* years child were travelling to Johannesburg from Hyderabad on June **rd ****. It was an itinerary of ethiopian airlines in partnership with Vistara. The first leg has domestic flight handled by Vistara from Hyderabad to Mumbai a...

Sep 09, 2023 by RAMANAIDU CHUKKA

Promised refund never came after numerous followups (Makemytrip) ^Open

I booked a ticket using the MakeMyTrip mobile app. At a later point, I called them to request for rescheduling the trip, to which they said I have to directly call the airline to reschedule. I called up the airline (Air India) and successfully ...

Sep 08, 2023 by Bastin Headmon

Compensation on Air India Flight Ticket (Air India) ^Open

I have booked a flight with Air India on June ** and they cancelled the flight without any notification, only got to know about this while on baggage check in. Then I had to book another flight with Indigo for *x the normal charges due to the d...

Aug 28, 2023 by Vishnu

Not getting refund against (Etihad Airlines ) ^Open

I have booked a tickets for etihad airlines through MakeMyTrip with reference number **APUK by paying around Rs.**,*** then we have rebooked through etihad directly to change the dates of travel by paying around Rs. ***,*** but we have not util...

Aug 26, 2023 by Venkat reddy singireddy

Refund not provided for flight cancellation (Ixigo) ^Open

My flight from Hanoi to New Delhi dated * November **** was booked on Ixigo with booking ID IF************** on ** August ****. The flight booking is covered under "Ixigo assured" which guarantees full refund on all eligible flights. The terms ...

Aug 26, 2023 by Sambhrant Maurya

Repeated errors in Website while using Purple ticket gift card for booking ticket (Vistara Airlines) ^Open

Hi I am writing to you this email regarding an issue I faced for the second time in a row for booking my flight to RPR -UDR using my purple ticket gift card and credit card. I had made a similar booking on **th Aug but unfortunately, the tr...

Aug 24, 2023 by Diwakar Pandey

REFUND OF AMOUNT FOR UNUSED AIR TICKETS (BRITISH AIRLINES) ^Open

TWO AIR TRAVEL TICKETS FROM SEATTLE (USA)TO HYDERABAD (INDIA) MADE AS OPEN TICKETS VALID FOR ONE YEAR FROM *TH APRIL **** COULD NOT BE USED DUE TO BAN OF INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS UP TO **TH MARCH **** BY GOVT OF INDIA. BOOKING AGENT BONVOYAGE...

Aug 22, 2023 by MALLAMPALLI RAMAKRISHNA RAO

Refund not received for cancelled flight (Goair) ^Open

I have booked ticket through makemytrip for my Aunt from Kochi to Mumbai on June*th (pnr-O**W*V) and due to technical service issues flight got cancelled and announced by (GOAIR) .i have followed up several times with Makemytrip and GOAIR ther...

Aug 20, 2023 by Sivasankar medidaraju

Refund since last year after flight booking cancellation (Travolook (Www.travolook.in)) ^Open

I booked a ticket on *th feb ****, it got cancelled and they didn't return my money after I lost hope in ****, I asked them to return my money on wallet. When I tried booking through that, again it got cancelled and I was not able to book the...

Aug 19, 2023 by Mahtab Ahmed

Deficiency in Services (Axis Bank) ^Open

I have booked * flights from axis bank travel edge portal on **th Jun , from Da Nang (Vietnam) to Phu Quoc (Vietnam) and flight timing while booking was * am for travel date **th July , but airline changed the flight from * am to *.** pm on **t...

Aug 17, 2023 by Yash kothari

Air India Flight Ticket Extention From ChennaiMAA To Dubai DXBPenalty Charges Is Taken Which is Ille (Air India Airlines) ^Closed

Air India Flight Ticket Extention From Chennai-MAA To Dubai DXB---Penalty Charges Is Taken Which is Illegal, I Convert the Ticket On **Th Itself My Ticket is On **Th Evening Only (Totally I Paid Amount Of -**,***Rs...for Extention the Ticket F...

Aug 20, 2023 by Mohamed Kasim

Airlines scam to take extra money (malaysian airlines) ^Closed

I have booked a round trip from Bangalore to Penang which had layover in Kuala lampur. In Kuala lampur, i missed connecting flight as immigration officer took longer time to allow me inside. I asked Malaysian airlines to offer me alternative fl...

Jul 21, 2023 by Raghavendra Prasad Kallur Gopalaswamy

Flight cancelled and refund not received (Flip Kart Com) ^Closed

Flynas airticket from Delhi to Jeddah booked via flipkart.com with booking ID ************ and PNR - YEMHSA dtd **-**-** for Rs*****. The flight was cancelled by Flynas Airlines, and a full refund was initiated on **-june-** to flipkart.com, bu...

Jun 24, 2023 by BHARATHKUMAR BAVA JAYARAJ

Airline not issuing refund (Lufthansa Airlines) ^Closed

I had booked a fully refundable flight ticket with Lufthansa airlines on their website on ** June, ****. I wanted to cancel the ticket. However, the booking has no cancellation option. Therefore, I submitted manual cancellation request on the a...

Jun 24, 2023 by Pravin Ashok Sarode

Payment got deducted but tickets were not booked (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I was booking a flight ticket through yatra.com as a guest user. During payment, amount got deducted and tickets were not booked. I talked with yatra's customer service and they are denying my payment and told me that any ammount is not...

Jun 19, 2023 by Tushar Kumar Sinha

Check In Baggage Delay (Air india) ^Closed

We too AI*** from Cochin to Mumbai on June **, **** . I paid excess baggage of rupees *,*** and unfortunately the baggage was delayed at Mumbai and had to wait an hour after speaking with baggage services. My e ticket number is ***-AI-******. ...

Jun 13, 2023 by Prabha Ananthnarayan

Refund of ticket price pnr no awdq6m (Indigo Airlines) ^Closed

I work as a Regional Manager...

Jun 06, 2023 by Parijath Dash

Misleading information (Easemytrip) ^Closed

I booked a Thai Lion Air flight through EMT. I had to cancel the trip due to medical reasons. EMT adviced not to cancel but convert to open ticket and only airline rescheduling fee + fare difference would be charged. Recently, I was planning ...

May 23, 2023 by Neeti Pokharna

Refund still on process (Make my trip) ^Closed

I booked a flight from Kozhikode to Dubai on *nd May ****. When I booked it was direct flight (PNR *TAFC*) , but later the direct flight changed to connection flight , travelling from kozhikode to Mumbai and then Mumbai to Dubai. I cancelled th...

May 19, 2023 by Mohammed Nihad Elayaveettil

Ticket Cancelled by Airline and Cleartrip has not refunded (Cleartrip) ^Closed

I booked a ticket for my niece from Hyderabad to Imphal via Kolkotta in Air India through Cleartrip.com depature from Hyderabad on * May **** and return on * June ****. I booked it three months ago in order to get cheaper flight for my niece wh...

May 17, 2023 by Madhu Chandra

Nonrefund of Cancelled Ticket Amount (Yatra.com) ^Closed

My spouse and my son were scheduled to travel on **/**/**** from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Mumbai, however, the Airline company Air Tanzania refused them to board by stating that their tickets are not confirmed by the Ticket Agent in my case i...

May 14, 2023 by Ankit Maheshbhai Patadia

Bullying for charge of extra weight where as no extra weight was with us (Spice Jet) ^Closed

I had no ** kg weight luggage. Only cabin luggage was with me. It was * kg @ *.* kg . Before taking the boarding pass I requested if I can take in cabin as I had no weight luggage . I was assured to take. At exit I was made to wait @ threatene...

Apr 29, 2023 by Naresh rathi

Regarding date change for booking id (Agoda) ^Closed

HI Team , I have been calling agoda customer care from past * week . I have requested to postpone the dates from April**th -**nd to July **-**th as my father undergone a operation . On , **th April , the date got changed and got updated in t...

Apr 24, 2023 by Prashant Nambiar

Flight rescheduled 4 times and cancelled 6hrs prior to departure (GOFIRST AIRLINES ) ^Closed

Writing on behalf of my friend Akash. I had booked a flight from gofirst airline with PNR P***VM. I was supposed to land at Ahmedabad on **th April **** at **.** . It has been rescheduled * times since then. And later it was cancelled *hrs prio...

Apr 10, 2023 by Ankita Ramesh

Delay in delivering baggage for business class seat (Air India) ^Closed

I was traveling from vadodara to delhi in air india flight AI *** which took off from vadodara at *.** pm approx i was travelling in business class and hence my luggage was on priority..but at delhi airport it took more than half an hour to be ...

Apr 04, 2023 by Meeta Bhatia

Charged but no services provided (Makemytrip) ^Closed

*. I booked Spicemax category tickets where your website apart from offering priority checkin, etc , also offers seats with extra leg space. But As I tried to web checkin after making the full payment , it does not allow me to select spicemax s...

Mar 17, 2023 by Pawan Kumar Rai

Cleartrip is neither confirmed tickets nor refunding the amount (Cleartrip) ^Closed

I was booking flight tickets from Milan to Bangalore. In the middle of the booking I got a call from cleartrip and they promoted me to book through telebooking. I made full payment but they didn’t confirm the tickets for a whole day. When I e...

Feb 23, 2023 by Cinuta Gayatri

Incomplete Name in International flight ticket (Flipkart) ^Closed

I have booked an international return flight tickets on Flipkart for airline Go First which is costing me almost Rs.**k Due to a technical issue with Flipkart, I could not enter my full name as per passport records. When I inadvertently ...

Jan 19, 2023 by Srikanth Mallya

Money deduced but not received ticket confirmation neither getting refund (Yatra Online Private Limited) ^Closed

I was booking flight from Mumbai to Bhuvneshwar and Bhuvneshwar to Mumbai but amount has been deduced and but received ticket confirmation . Also not getting refund back my amount.. Upi reference is ************...

Jan 17, 2023 by Roshan kumar

Refund not credited (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Closed

Hello sir mem i had book ticket from make my trip which i cancelled before ** hour flight DATE nov ** pnr tel aviv to rajkot PNR *GGGNQ name.pratap karabhai gorsera i contact them for refund but they are saying call to make maytrip and after th...

Jan 10, 2023 by Pratap gorsera