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

Refund not issued (air asia airlines) ^Open

I have booked the flight tickets for me and my wife from Osaka to Bangkok on **th June **** through air asia. After * months on *th September **** my flight was cancelled by the airline. Now with just * month remaining in my trip all other flig...

Sep 22, 2022 by Abhishek Sharma

Refund not received (Spicejet) ^Open

I have been charged * times for a transaction while booking a flight from dharamshala to delhi on **-June at *:** for * passengers. I am being charged * times for same transaction once from axis bank net banking option and once from credit car...

Sep 17, 2022 by Abhishek

Automatically reallocated the cancelled flight which was unsuitable to us (Go First Airline) ^Open

GoFirst flight from Del to Mum cancelled one day before. Checked rebooking options on the website. Was not allowed to check or select a suitable flight and a new flight was automatically selected and rescheduled. Airline refused to issue a re...

Sep 17, 2022 by Priya Tolasariya

Duplicate transactions (Agoda Booking) ^Open

Well I had been charged * times for my same booking and now they are not giving me my refund. They are saying it’s not possible as per there policy....

Sep 17, 2022 by Avik sarkar

Complaint Regarding harassment at Airport and amount charged by SpiceJet (Spicejet Air Line) ^Open

I am writing this complaint with utmost displeasure to complain about the harassment and extremely costly experience at T* Airport Delhi during my SpiceJet flight with no assistance/remedial action by their executives at the airport. On **.**.*...

Sep 16, 2022 by Shefali Jain & Keshav Kishore

Travolook not ready to refund my money (Travolook) ^Open

My refund reference number is: REF********* My contact number: ********** I have booked a round trip from Jaipur to Pune on *th July. They called me within ** minutes and told me that the ticket is not confirmed and the money will be refunded...

Sep 14, 2022 by Harshavardhan Patil

Amount not refunded since 3 years No interest and demanding 15 to cancel (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Open

I have booked a family holiday to Europe in ****. It got cancelled due to Pandemic. Make my trip refused to give refund till October ****, after that they said they will deduct **% if we want to cancel, that is around ** thousand rupees. They g...

Sep 08, 2022 by Srinivasa Karasu

Agoda Refund Issue (Agoda) ^Open

Hi Team, I have been planning my trip to Switzerland for which I had to apply the VISA. I have been looking to book a hotel which i can use for visa application. So, I have used agoda.com for that made some booking and canceled some as I was...

Sep 06, 2022 by Munfed

Airline Ticket Fraud (Travolook) ^Open

I booked airticket from https://www.travolook.in/; on July **nd **** for Kolkata-Pune; one way flight scheduled for Jul **th ****. Booking reference REF*********/details attached After the payment was made for Rs ****, they cancelled the tic...

Sep 05, 2022 by A Das

Ticket canceled without concent or confirmation (MYTRIP COM) ^Open

Dear Letisha, Thank you for finally calling from the Customer care supervisor USA after ** hours . You confirmed on the recorded line that you have heard the transcript that your agent made the cancellation without my confirmation You ha...

Aug 30, 2022 by Rajat HANDA

REFUND NOT PROVIDED (Happyeasygo) ^Open

My one way flight was cancelled by one of the airlines, so I had to cancel one way with full refund and the return flight with partial refund around * months back. Before cancelling the travel agency confirmed that it would be processed early. ...

Aug 30, 2022 by Mayank Gadodia

Air India refund (Air India) ^Open

This complaint is in reference to the flight bookings (Y**M* and Y**QC) PNR numbers- Y**M* (Kailas Bhivgade) / E-ticket number ************* Y**QC (Nalini Bhivgade) / E-ticket number ************* I (Ashiwini Bhivgade) booked these flight...

Aug 27, 2022 by Ashwini Bhivgade

Hotel Booking amount not refunded by MakeMyTrip (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) ^Open

I had made a hotel booking for my stay in Dubai for the period Jan *,**** to Jan *,****. The booking was done on MakeMyTrip on November *th, ****. We had also booked air tickets through MakeMyTrip (MMT) for travel from Chennai to Dubai via Colu...

Aug 26, 2022 by Sharon Angelene N

Flight booking refund (Travolook) ^Open

I have booked my flight tickets from Raipur to Banglore on **/**/**** ref I’d -********* through travolook.in The ticket got cancelled instantly after my money was deducted. And they had not refunded my money . I have chased them quite a lot...

Aug 25, 2022 by Sandeep Fotani

Travolook is not refunding amount from last 3 months Ticket cancelled by them (TRAVOLOOK.IN) ^Open

Ticket booked on *th July **** Reference ID - REF********* Cancelation Reason – Cancellation done by travolook , support executive called and said we are unable to complete your booking due to issue with vendor,(FYI- this all happened post ...

Aug 25, 2022 by Sandeep Das

Travolook Flight Ticket Refund (Travolook) ^Open

This is regarding the refund not received against the cancellation happened for the travel ticket (Ref #: REF*********). The booking and cancellation happens in the first week of Feb, however i haven’t received the refund yet. After contin...

Aug 24, 2022 by Harikumar S

Refund not received since last 2 months (Cleartrip) ^Open

The company told me that the refund was provided on *th July, ****. I kept taking follow up a gazillion times and they kept insisting me to check with the bank as the bank had provided the ARN number, and ClearTrip kept refusing me to provide a...

Aug 24, 2022 by Jay Shah

Air India denied boarding (Air India Ease My Trip) ^Open

Hello Air India, I travelled from Paris to Chennai through Delhi. The booking code is NKB*LY. The flight number is AI *** from Paris to Delhi and AI *** from Delhi to Chennai. The flight left from Paris at **:** and reached Delhi at *...

Aug 23, 2022 by Jayanth

Refund not remitted (Aakash Jajoo Flight Ticket Agent) ^Open

I intended to purchase a flight ticket from Mumbai to Boston. Agent Aakash Jajoo had been recommended to me by a friend Mr. Suraj Ingle (**********). ++++ When I called Akash Jajoo for Air ticket he requested me to choose my flight and the...

Aug 22, 2022 by Varsha Seshashayee Hindupur

Indigo flight cancellation at the last moment resulting into huge loss (Indigo) ^Open

I booked a ticket to chennai from Hyderabad on *rd July (travel date) , early morning flight, and flight got cancelled and I was intimated *-* hrs before. My flight got cancelled at a very short notice, beacause of which I missed a very importa...

Aug 20, 2022 by Surya kant Trivedi

Refund not credit (INDIGOAIR ) ^Closed

KOLKATA TO BENGALURU/ flight no- (*E-***) payment deducted from my account on **/**/****(*:** am) Rs *****, Transaction id- YMBK**********. Cancel PNR No- ATJ**E ...

Sep 08, 2022 by MILAN SATPATI

Refund not processed (EaseMyTrip com) ^Closed

I had booked tickets from Easemytrip for Air India to travel from Moscow to Mumbai on ** July, **** and return on ** August. Air India stopped operating in Russia from April and since then I've been continuously contacting Easemytrip to initiat...

Aug 23, 2022 by Dimpy Singh

Spice Jet Airlines (Spice Jet Airlines) ^Closed

I have reschdule my flight from Delhi to Bangkok yesterday,the spicejet people deducted amount online and not giving money back . I have paid * times **** amount for rescheduling the one flight for today....

Jun 24, 2022 by Akansha Sharma

Not getting refund of my ticket for the cancelled flight (EaseMyTrip com) ^Closed

Booking ID - EMT********, PNR - E*I*JL flight booked from MAA To RDP. During pandemic time our flight was cancelled by the airlines and they told they have added the booking amount in credit shell. Now when I am going to use the credit shel...

Jun 22, 2022 by Priyotosh Mondal

Flight ticket cancellation refund (Yatra Com) ^Closed

I booked * flight tickets from Yatra.com of Indigo Airlines.. The same has been cancelled by my side due to emergency.. After deduction of cancellation charges as per policy, remaining amount has been sent to Yatra by Indigo.. But yatra denies ...

Jun 14, 2022 by Rajkumar Yadav

Flight Ticket delivered After the Flight takeoff (Agoda com) ^Closed

I Booked Flight Ticket on Agoda on *th June ****. After the Agoda Booking ID *********, I haven't received the airline confirmation and it shows Pending Airlines Confirmation. My Flight is *:** AM on *th June. and Got the Airline Confirmation ...

Jun 05, 2022 by Somasekhar Sanampuri

Overcharged for rescheduling of flight (Easemytrip.com) ^Closed

I booked a return flight between New Delhi and San Francisco for **th September **** and *th October ****. The total amount I paid for this ticket was Rs. **,***. Today, I rescheduled this flight through the Easemytrip portal. I was asked to pa...

May 29, 2022 by Tanmay Sahni

Wallet not being return by the travel company (Sts World Private Limited) ^Closed

I visited Bali ( Indonesia) with my wife in Feb ****. I forgot my wallet bearing USD *** plus indian currency and other original documents. This was collected by STS world team of Bali. Since it was Covid they told me that this will be sent pos...

May 24, 2022 by Mayur Shellar

Refund not received (Indigo Airlines) ^Closed

I have booked etickets of Indigo flight through Amazon. After flight booking done I downloaded the Indigo App and there I booked my preferred seats and paid Rs **** through my own debit card, no agency or agent was involved in booking the seats...

May 11, 2022 by Sunita Kundu

Flight refund (Travolook Www Travolook In) ^Closed

I booked a flight from delhi to jammu on ** April through Travolook. It got cancelled ,my money was deducted rs **** but still no refunds received...

May 10, 2022 by Prerna Bhadwal

Amount not refunded from Yatra (Yatra) ^Closed

I have booked flight ticket from Cochin to Ahmedabad from YATRA website on March **th **** but due to the website error ticket not booked and the amount (INR *****.**) got debited from my account. I have contacted Yatra customer care and they r...

May 02, 2022 by BRIZ GABRIEL

Ticket refund (Air India) ^Closed

FourAir India tickets from Delhi to Sydney were cancelled in March **** for to Covid based flight cancellations. Even after more than * years and numerous requests Air India is still to refund the amount of approx Rs *,**,***...

Apr 29, 2022 by Sandeep Singh

Ticket cancelled just after few seconds of booking and no refund even after 28 days (Travolook) ^Closed

I have made a booking through Travolook website on **–**–**** from Bangalore to Lucknow by paying Rs.**** and it got cancelled just after few seconds of booking and I received an email of the same mentioning reason as “due to fare differe...

Apr 08, 2022 by P. Naga Praveen

REFUND OF AIR FARE (Makemytrip) ^Closed

I had purchased * Air Tickets from makemytrip.com to travel from DEL to Kullu on **th Jan'** ,the tickets were booked in Air India flight.I had paid Rs *****/- for these flight tickets.However one ticket in respect of Dr Hira Lal Sharma was can...

Apr 05, 2022 by Supriya Sharma

Refund issue (Travolook) ^Closed

I have booked flight on **th February ****and got a call from Travolook that ur flight cancelled due to error and a refund will initiate with in **days . But it's being more then *month they are not refunding my money .kindly do the...

Mar 30, 2022 by Manohar choudhury

DELAY IN REFUND (Easemytrip.com) ^Closed

I booked a ticket for Thai Airways, Flight No. TG- ***, Delhi to Bangkok on **.**.****, for **.**.****, through portal of Esaemytrip.com. My PNR No. was - JKE*R*. I rescheduled that flight on **.**.**** at **.** pm, ** hours ** Minutes befo...

Mar 20, 2022 by Shiv Narayan Prasad Misra

Ticket cancelled by travolook in and refund not provided (Travolook) ^Closed

On *th February, ****, I tried booking a flight on travolook.in and my booking reference number is: *********. After making the payment of Rs. ****/- from my mobikwik wallet, they mailed me saying that my ticket was cancelled due to fare diffe...

Mar 06, 2022 by Santanu Pan

Refund of failed transaction (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I booked ticket on **.**.**** as *st time was get unsuccessful but paymen was deducted. Which is taken place at **.** pm. After that I have booked another ticket which got successful and i received ticket. But till date refund the *st faile...

Mar 05, 2022 by Anand Waghmare

Money not refunded in bank account (Goibibo) ^Closed

I canceled my hotel booking against Goibobo Booking ID - HTLDNAI*Y*V*EMNQ for which Rs *,*** was transferred in my GoCash balance. On *st Jan ****, I requested to transfer this amount to my HDFC bank account but due to technical reasons, this ...

Feb 14, 2022 by Arun Gupta

Yatra is not providing refund of 5957 Rs for the flights canceled through Indigo Airlines (Yatra Com) ^Closed

As per the attached evidence, Yatra has charged **** Rs. (GHP*NV) and **** Rs. (GP**GN) as Yatra Service Charges and then you have subtracted them as well. So If you have not charged the Yatra service fees as per the invoice then how can you de...

Feb 12, 2022 by Mansi Gupta