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
Complaints
Refund not Received even after 1 month of follow ups (Goibibo) Open
I Booked a hotel room from GoIbibo on **th Apr **** for **th Apr **** and Cancelled the room on **th Apr. While booking the room I made a payment of Rs **** from UPI and *** Goibibo cashback. After Cancellation *** Goibibo cashback was receive...
May 29, 2022 by Gurpreet Singh
Boarding Denied flight overbooked (Go first) Open
We were denied boarding by Go First staff and faced rude behaviour from the ground staff of Go First Airlines. The web checkin portal was allowing only * seat to be booked for * tickets even ** before departure time (proof held) which indicates...
May 22, 2022 by Anshul
No boarding given against Agoda s Booking ID Checkin (Agoda com) Open
Dear Sir / Madam, I am writing this with great sorrow that the booking made through Agoda site has caused us tremendous harassment for our planned tour. Though I have made the complete payment, it is very unfortunate that the Hotel has rejec...
May 16, 2022 by Akash Shaw
Refund not yet issued by Air India Through MMT (Make my trip) Open
I had booked a To and Fro flight from Bengaluru to Maldives Dated *th of December ****. ( PNR No. ZB*KR AND Ticket no. being ***-**********). When me and my Wife reached airport the official at Bengaluru airport denied boarding to us since the...
May 09, 2022 by BHAVESH GEHANI
Respected Sir/Madam, I humbly request you to kindly refund full amount . I Can't travel Right Now because I am pregnant and my health condition not good, i can not travel by bus or car to reach air port . I ...
May 04, 2022 by Sushreeslipa joshi
Airlines Not Returning Money for Cancelled Flight (Budgetair.in) Open
I booked Airlines Ticket from BudgetAir.com for Air Tahiti but due to pandemic the trip got canceled and there was a lockdown in the world. For my trip, I got a refund from all other companies (Hotel & AirlineS) except Air Tahiti and I am tire...
May 03, 2022 by Nikhil Narang
Refund pending from Travolook for flight booking cancellation (Travolook) Open
I booked a ticket from Delhi to Bangalore on ** Dec'** for ** Dec'**. After the payment, I received the information mail that the booking process is under process & and after ** mins I received the information mail the booking is cancelled due...
May 03, 2022 by Rohit Goel
Amount deducted but ticket not received (Travolook) Open
I booked a ticket from indore to banglore via travolook..The amount got deducted but the ticket is not yet received.. I need my full amount refund....
May 03, 2022 by Priyanka Agarwal
Baggage not delivered (Spice Jet) Open
I wanted to report about the mishandling of my luggage by Spice jet. I traveled from Dubai to India on **th April but they didn’t bring my luggage. After long long follow up still I don’t have any update. No one is responding and updating s...
May 01, 2022 by Shweta
Partial refund of amount for flight cancellation due to covid (Happyeasygo) Open
Hi Team, I have booked Pune to Delhi return flight in **** ( Order I'd[protected] from Happy easy go. The total amount for booking was Rs *****. As per the government norms full amount should be refunded in case of cancellation due to COVID....
Apr 28, 2022 by Saurabh Jain
100 Refundable Booking now claims 100 nonrefundable (Budget Air) Open
One of the most shady companies to ever buy or get a ticket. Booked a ticket to travel from one city to another where-in the ticket booking clearly mentioned ***% refundable ticket, whereas while I was trying to cancel the ticket, it claims tha...
Apr 27, 2022 by Divya
Flight tickets got cancelled without our permission (Indigo) Open
We have reserved Indigo flight group ticket of * of us from Varanasi to Chennai which will start from Vaanasi on **th March **** and PNR number is VWICPG which costed **,***. On **th March **** morning we accessed our flight tickets but by the ...
Apr 20, 2022 by Leela Sai Mahidhar Guggilam
Payment Cancelled but refund not initiated (Travolook) Open
I was trying to book an Air Ticket on ** Feb ****. The payment got deducted from the account but the PNR did not got generated. It has been more than *.* month now and they keep on saying that within the next few business days you will get the ...
Apr 18, 2022 by Mukul Mishra
No refund for a flight that was booked on April 2020 (Air Asia) Open
Booked my ticket with Air asia on Dec **** for Bangalore to Bangkok, flight was cancelled due to pandemic. But till date Air Asia hasnt issued a refund. Its been more than * years...
Apr 15, 2022 by Imran Khan Mohamed Stalin
Ticket got cancelled automatically after 10 minutes booking (WING IN TRAVEL ADVISORY PRIVATE LIMITED ) Open
REF********* Booked on **.**.**** Bengaluru to Mumbai and after ** min a call and email is received saying that you booking is cancelled due to technical reason and will be fully refunded. but still not received the amount. I written several em...
Apr 12, 2022 by Santosh Mishra
Non receipt of full refund from cs happyeasygo com travel agent against cancelled flights due to ou (Happyeasygo.com) Open
*. On ** February ****, the Complainant purchased on line air ticket from cs@happyeasygo. com for travel on ** April **** to Mamslore paying Rs.**** thru SBI net banking (Annexure A) *. On ** February ****, another ticket was purchased for th...
Apr 10, 2022 by MANJUNATH GOVIND SHENOY
Payment failed but refund not done (Cleartrip) Open
I had booked one way airline ticket through cleartrip for journey from trivandrum to chennai in Indigo on **/**/**** for journey on **/**/****, I had made payment for the transaction at **.** Hrs. I got message of ticket confirmation at **.** H...
Apr 09, 2022 by Karthikeyan
Cashback withdrawal delay (Happyeasygo) Open
I have sent my requests for cashback withdrawal in the month of January **** and it takes ** days to arrive. Its been * months and I have been struggling to get intouch. Everytime they respond with the same copy pasted message. What do I do?...
Apr 08, 2022 by Hisam Khan
Refund not received for cancelled ticket (Happyeasygo India Private Limited ) Open
Hi team, I have canceled the ticket on the *rd of March for flight Pakyong to Kolkata having PNR-KF**TQ.But I haven't received the refund yet. I have dropped them an email and tagged them in Twitter,but every time I get the same response...
Apr 08, 2022 by Subash Konar
No assistant found at the air india counter for bording pass (Air India) Closed
At the kolkatta air port no assistant staff are attending their custmers to provide bording pass from **.**.**** from **** am to **** am. At their counter. Lots of crowd are creates in front of the counter. This is fully harassment of the cust...
Aug 16, 2020 by Bharat
Refund not generated (Yatra Com) Closed
I had a booking on *rd of august from Kolkata to Mumbai. The flight got cancelled and the refund was done by the airline but Yatra is not returning the money. All the routes to reach them are bullshit. None of the contact numbers are valid, the...
Aug 15, 2020 by Suman mondal
Air India is not reachable to refund money (Air India) Closed
I had a summer vacation plan on April,**** which got cancelled due to lockdown. I am not able to get hold of Air India to initiate the process to refund the money. The call centre is not able to do anything as it complaints belong to Air India ...
Aug 14, 2020 by Swarnali
My flight cancelation refund in corona priad (via com) Closed
via payment refranc no FMNBA*BYKRNW* and my PNR no HQPERR. MANOHAR KIRAMANI....
Aug 14, 2020 by manohar p kiramani
Ticket refund not received (Air India) Closed
In February, I have booked a return flight from Dubai to Kochi dated March **th for myself and my family. But on March *th, due to the COVID** lockdown situation, I had requested a full cancellation of the ticket just before the lockdown was an...
Aug 14, 2020 by Mohammed Salih Puthenpurayil Kunju Mohamed
Refund of money (Goibibo airlines) Closed
I have tried booking ticket on *rd of August but after payment it got failed then next day booked again another ticket by paying again and got the ticket as like every time the refunds comes in max *-* working days I was waiting since then but ...
Aug 14, 2020 by Sangita Singh
Money not refunded (Spicejet Air Line) Closed
I cancelled the flight ticket on **nd of July but the amount of ticket is not refunded yet. ...
Aug 14, 2020 by Ashok kumar
Full refund not received (Goibibo) Closed
I booked the Air India flights on **rd Feb **** for my brother to travel from Dubai-Chennai (**th May), Chennai-Dubai (**th June) on https://www.goibibo.com/. Because of the lockdown, Air India cancelled the flights and when I contacted the cus...
Aug 13, 2020 by Khalith Ahmed C
Refund not initiated (Via.com) Closed
I booked Air India flight ticket from kochi to jorhat through via.com.Due to Covid ** flight got cancelled.Airlines issued refund to travel agency(via.com).Till now they have not refunded the money and neither replied to any calls or mails...
Aug 12, 2020 by Sreepriya Murali
Indigo Refund Not yet received (Indigo Airlines) Closed
booked a ticket in your airlines on ** march **** from delhi to Chandhigarh, (OL*H*D) but due to some error that occured at your server my payment has got cancelled and an amount of **,*** was deducted.Since the ticket was cancelled i booked...
Aug 12, 2020 by James Jim
I have booked mt flight on ** march **** and my journey was on ** march but due to lockdown my flight got cancelled by the airline i have sent so many mail to ais asia as well as i call the **** of times but call is not reachable . so I want my...
Aug 12, 2020 by Deepanshu Goyal
Flight ticket full refund (Air india) Closed
I have booked flight ticket from Ahmedabad to Bangalore on *rd August, ****, unfortunately flight got cancelled by airindia..when I requested for full refund, they want travel agent to contact sales department but travel agent want remarks or a...
Aug 12, 2020 by Dinesh NRN
Non Refund of my Air ticket Cancellation dues of Indigo (GO ibibo Online Air ticket) Closed
I Have Booked Air tickets of Indigo for Delhi to Goa in Feb **** for near around **K.Due to CIVID flights got cancelled.Indigo airlines created credited Shell of same for RS **K and refunded to booking agency ****/- in July **** which I am not...
Aug 12, 2020 by Chandan Sharma
Vistara not refunding ticket amount (Vistara Airlines) Closed
Vistara is not refunding my money against booking made during national lockdown in India. Although, DGCA has issues circular clearly instructing airlines to issue full refunds to customers, vistara is not issuing my refund. I’m stuck with INR...
Aug 12, 2020 by Saurabh Singh
Ticket not booking only amount deducting (Air ticket) Closed
Amount deducted .but ticket not booking and asking additional charges.waiting * hr ** minutes.still not given any confirmation....
Aug 11, 2020 by V srinivasan
Credit shell (Goibibo airlines Indigo Airlines) Closed
Hi sir my name is Pravesh Kumar Vikramaditya Vishwakarma I have my PNR number OG*CSM I spoke to the airline. They told us that the amount has been credited to the goibibo agency but Sir our amount did not come into our account and we were booki...
Aug 11, 2020 by Pravesh kumar vikarmaditya vishwakarma
Goibibo refused to refund Covid cancelled flight worth (Goibibo airlines And AirAsia) Closed
PNR- C*JZWZ , KGUQMZ Both flights cancelled without my consent due to ban on International flights during the Lockdown * in India. For both tickets it is showing "Refund under Process" from last * months . When will I get my ***** from goi...
Aug 11, 2020 by Abhishek Yadav
Refund for the flight cancellation (goibibo and airasia airlines) Closed
there is some medical emergency at home due to which i have to casncel my bookings and against that air asia airlin agreed to provide refund and they processed the refund. they mentioned same in the mail as well. they refunded the amount in the...
Aug 10, 2020 by Prashant Sharma
Bus Tickets Refund (Yatra Com) Closed
Dear Sir, *). I booked Bus ticket on Yatra.com (Amount-***/-) on **-**-**** but Bus operator cancelled the bus and confirmed over phone the same. He also told that refund had been initiated from their end but i didn t get any refund amount t...
Aug 08, 2020 by Mubeen Khan
BOOKING FOR MY FLIGHT REFUND CANCELLED DUE TO COVID 191 RESTRCITION (T) Closed
DEAR SIR MY FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED DUE TO COVID ** GOVT POLICY. BUT REFUND POLICY THAT CREDIT SHELL POLICY IS INIATED BUT I DONOT WANT ANY CREDIT SHELL PLEASE HELP ME FOR MY MONEY AND IT IS VALUABLE FOR MY LIFE BECAUSE I AM SERVING IN INDIAN ARMY...
Aug 07, 2020 by RAHUL RAJ
"I was unable to get in touch with anyone in Byjus nor with my counselor regarding my problem for 3 months. But Voxya team helped me solve my issue very soon. Thank you!"
Mamta D
Complaint filed against: Byju's