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
Travolook Scamticket cancelled and amount not refunded (Travolook) Open
I booked a flight ticked from Travolook company for Lko to Amd. And soon after the booking my ticket got cancelled due to operational reasons and I received a call from their custome care saying the amount will be refunded within * to ** days. ...
Oct 04, 2021 by Shaadma khan
Refund issue cheaters (HAPPYEASY GO) Open
We have booked tickets from Ahmedabad to bangalore for **th of September through order ID ******************. Airline has cancelled this booking and given full amount of refund to Happyeasy go. Even after so much of reminder they have not re...
Oct 03, 2021 by Chitrarth Mehta
Refund Not Issued For Cancelled Flight (Spice Jet) Open
I have booked a spice jet ticket from Dubai to Jaipur, however the flight was cancelled by SpiceJet and I have requested a refund around the **th July. However I have not received the refund yet and when I had word with spicejet executives, ...
Oct 02, 2021 by Pankaj Pareek
Refund not processed by Travolook for My cancelled Airline booking (Travolook) Open
I have booked flight ticket (Bhopal to Mumbai , **th September) from travolook and paid via Amazon pay .Payment got deducted but booking didn't got confirmed. I Contacted Travolook and they said my booking is Cancelled and they will refund my...
Sep 29, 2021 by HIMANSHU Jain
Air india ticket refund (Via.com) Open
Dear Sir I purchased Air india ticket PNR YR*X* through VIA.COM on **-**-**** for travel to new York from Hyderabad and return dates onward **-**-**** and return **-**-**** later flight has cancelled and i received a mail from VIA.COM flight c...
Sep 29, 2021 by Pardhasaradhi bobbili
No refund and rescheduling due to trip cancellation owing to Covid 19 (Shoes On Loose Private Limited) Open
I have booked my honeymoon trip with shoes on loose company. I have paid *,**,*** rupees in two instalments. Flight tickets were booked by them as well. Later on international travel was banned due to corona pandemic. I have followed up with th...
Sep 29, 2021 by Siddharth Shukla
19 of money returned for a refundable flight (Ease my trip com) Open
**** INR were cut for cancelling a refundable flight costing **** INR. Also, the team was not ready to return the money as the words "Refundable" and "Non-Refundable" were used interchangeably. ...
Sep 28, 2021 by Deveena Jain
Ground staff misbehaviour (Vistara Airlines) Open
As per DGCA, the boarding gates are closed **mins prior to departure time, despite reaching **MINs BEFORE the departure time, not only we were DENIED boarding we were : *. PUBLICLY HUMILIATED *. PUBLICLY SHOUTED AT *. FORCEFULLY CHECKED-OUT ...
Sep 26, 2021 by Sajid Hussain
Not received the refund amount (Happy Easy Go) Open
Happy easy go is not refunding my money. The flight was cancelled by the airline and the refund has already been done from airline. Now happy easy go is not responding on my refund. I waited for their refund window (** days) but now its almost ...
Sep 25, 2021 by Pooja Kumari
Ticket cancellation amount not refunded (Travolook) Open
I made a flight booking from Mumbai to Hyderabad on **/**/**** using travolook booking portal with reference id REF*********. They have cancelled the booking from their end saying fare revision of airline. They did not refund my amount from bac...
Sep 25, 2021 by Chinthireddy Arun
Didn t get refund against flight ticket cancellation (Travolook) Open
On **th August ****, I booked a ticket from Hyderabad to Jaipur through the travolook website. After an hour i got an email as below " Your booking is Cancelled due to fare expiration. Please contact our customer support at ****-***-**** or sen...
Sep 25, 2021 by PAVULURI NAGAKARUNAKAR
Ticket amount not refunded (Travolook) Open
I am Shubham Shukla S/O Mr. Avdhesh Shukla, want to file a compliant against the online fraud of INR ****/ happened over a Flight ticked booking Portal known as “Travolook”. Today I was trying to book a flight from Agra to Bangalore which ...
Sep 23, 2021 by Shubham Shukla
Refund issues for flight ticket from Travolook (Travolook Www Travolook In) Open
On **/September/****, I had booked two air tickets for travel from Kolkata to Delhi (travel date: **/September/****) through the website Book Flights Tickets Online, Flights Booking for Domestic & International Destinations. Booking Reference ...
Sep 23, 2021 by Saptarshi Chowdhury
Air tickets refund not processed by travel agent (Happy Go Easy) Open
I have been asking Happy Go Easy to refund my money for cancellation of flight during nation wide lock down in ****. Till now the travel agent have not done my refund I have checked with airlines they have refunded the full amount to travel ...
Sep 22, 2021 by Francis
Baggage damaged by GO AIR (Go Air Airlines) Open
GO AIR Travel date: ** August **** From Mumbai to Ahmedabad Flight Number G****, Booking ID: F*P*MS. When I collected my bag from the conveyor belt, I found both bags are damages, one was "ripped and torn & another hard case bag was complete...
Sep 22, 2021 by Nirav Shukla
Refund Not received (travalook com) Open
I have booked a ticket from Mumbai to Bangalore for travel on **th Aug through Travalook vide reference *********. Customer service called me and said it is cancelled due to some network issue. They said amount will be refunded within ** to *...
Sep 22, 2021 by Gopal N
Money not refunded for cancelled flight (Make my trip) Open
Due to pandemic our flight got cancelled and but we did not recieve the refund processed by the airline in our MakeMyTrip account. ...
Sep 22, 2021 by Sahil Uppal
Refund not issued on account of unconfirmed ticket but amount deducted of Rs 5136 (Travolook) Open
I have booked flight ticket from Nagpur to Bangalore on **th Aug,immeditaly after payment Travolook canceled my tickets stating due to fair expiration they cancelled. After that I received a mail from Travolook that my money will be refunded ba...
Sep 19, 2021 by Shreyam kumar Sunny
NonReceipt of Refund for more than 60 days (Travolook Www Travolook In) Open
I just wanted to let all you caution against using Airtickets at Travolook as an intermediary to book your airtickets. The case goes like this : I booked * air tickets from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on **th July to travel on **th July through their s...
Sep 17, 2021 by Feroz Bhanwadia
Flight Ticket Cancelled without Refund (Travolook) Open
I had booked a flight from Goa to Mumbai on *nd Sept ****, I first got a confirmation mail, but in * mins they've cancelled my ticket citing system issues. They said they will refund in * days but I haven't received anything and now they have ...
Sep 17, 2021 by Shradha Patil
Goibibo Goibibo deliberately issuing a Credit Voucher instead of cash refund (Goibbo) Closed
I have written confirmation from AirAsia regarding process of the full refund (cash) against my PNR Z*K**Q in Goibibo's account. I have also explicitly confirmed with Airlines, that the refund is in the form of Cash not any Credit Shell/Voucher...
May 31, 2020 by Vikash Agarwal
Refund not received even after the stipulated 2 month wait (Cleartrip) Closed
Cleartrip ************ - that is my trip ID. Indigo's policy allowed a full refund and Cleatrip asked me to wait * months and I patiently did so. Now they have stopped responding to my emails and tweets and there is no update on when I'll be ge...
May 31, 2020 by Srinivasan Murugasamy
Flight ticket Refund not initiated since 2 months (PayTM) Closed
I had booked flight ticket from Uk to Delhi from Gulf airlines through paytm In March **** Due to covid the flight had been cancelled Due to refund rules am eligible for full refund which was assured from paytm Since then (Mar ****) am contacti...
May 31, 2020 by Sai Kotipalli
Yatra not refunding the ticket cost (Yatra.com) Closed
I had made indigo flight booking to Blore - Dehradun return tickets to travel on **th April and return on **th April from yatra.com Due to Covid-** the flight (PNR XXXXA) was cancelled...I had opted for cancellation & refund of one way ticke...
May 29, 2020 by Roopa
Complete refund not done (Goibbo) Closed
I have booked Air tickets through Goibibo and had to cancel them due to Corona outbreak. I have cancelled the tickets directly with the Airline (indigo) and they have initiated a full refund after deduction of basic charges. They have provided ...
May 23, 2020 by Priyanka Trivedi
Airlines has transferred money to yatra but yatra has not transferred to me (Yatra.com) Closed
Booking reference number ************* १० day's from last month I have booked ticket in Feb cancelled in March and now it's may Airlines has transfered money to your account in April Now for what you need more १० day's from April t...
May 22, 2020 by Abhishek Sharan
YATRA COM not refunding money they promised for flight cancellation (Yatra.com) Closed
I had booked a flight for **th of March **** from Bangalore to kolkata and had to cancel on the **nd of March ****. Booking ID - ************ PNR- YNB**N The same was completely under cancellation protection from Yatra, and moreover I a...
May 21, 2020 by Subhrojyoti Saha
Money not refunded (Indigo Airlines 6E) Closed
My flight is cancelled on **th April,**** due to lockdown. I want full refund as flight was cancelled by the airlines. But they are not providing me the refund....
May 12, 2020 by Rashmi Khandelwal
Refund not received (Indigo) Closed
I had booked my return tickets from Kolkata to Goa for two passengers for **th April and **th April . Because of lock down I cancelled the ticket. The refund should come to my account. Instead of the same its in credit shell with Expiry date of...
May 07, 2020 by SUBHENDU GHOSH
Refund issue (Indigo Airline ) Closed
Booked flight ticket on **nd March **** for **th March **** travel from Lucknow to Chennai PNR Number NCVGUB Flight cancelled due to nation wide lock down. Rescheduled to **th April **** PNR Number RFT**F, once again flight cancelled. We have ...
May 07, 2020 by Vairavan
Have not received refund from Make My Trip and not responding (Make My Trip) Closed
My Wife Sreelakshmi C S (SreeLakshmi Chandrika Sasidharan) booked flight ticket via Make My Trip (Booking ID : NN*************, PNR - MYJXPF & E-Ticket Number : ***-**********-**) to travel as below: DEL-DXB : **th March **** : EK-*** DXB-CDG...
May 03, 2020 by S V Jaya Krishna
Ticket cancellation refund not being processed (Easemytrip.com) Closed
We cancelled our indigo flight on ** Mar **** and got refund confirmation mail and amount clearly stated from airlines. We got another mail from easemytrip stating the refund amount after deducting cancellation charges (which is fine)...but ove...
May 01, 2020 by Vickram
Refund for the flight is not provided from goibibo (Goibibo company ) Closed
I had booked flight from BLR-MUC on *rd Feb **** to travel on **th April ****. Due to corona virus threat, the flights were cancelled. I also tried to contact airlines directly to reschedule as goibibo was not able to reschedule it. Since the c...
Apr 30, 2020 by Srikanth Kumar Bindiganavile Sudarshan
Refund processed but not reflecting (Easemytrip) Closed
I booked tickets for Bali and AirAsia emailed stating full refund will be processed. Booked my tickets through EasemyTrip and they confirmed they processed the refund on ** April; however the amount is not reflecting in my bank account. I ...
Apr 28, 2020 by Suraj Menon
Refund not released by Ease my trip (Easemytrip.com) Closed
I booked my travel for ** March from Ahmedabad to Kolkata by Goair Flight G* ***. My PNR was H***HS and booking ID was EMT********. The flight was cancelled on **th March and thus refund was already processed by Go Air. They have already se...
Apr 28, 2020 by Arun Kumar Singh
Refund of spicejet ticket due to lockdown (AirAsia) Closed
Dear Sir/ Madam, I had booked ticket with spice jet on **-**-**** for travel on **-**-****,now due to the covid** situation the flight are cancelled. now after several follow up with spice jet they are not ready to ref...
Apr 27, 2020 by Prisanth varghese
Refund (Ease my trip) Closed
I'm booking * ticket from ease my trip. But the flight canceled due to covid**. I want to refund my money. ...
Apr 25, 2020 by Maruta bhusan pallai
Payment not Refund (Easemytrip.com) Closed
Hi Team, I have booked air ticket from EaseMyTrip agent but due COVID** issue one said air ticket cancelled from my side and anather one cancelled from airline. after that air tickets cancelled refunds not credit after so many flow up from t...
Apr 23, 2020 by Gautam Debnath
T could not able to provide transaction details (Ease my trip com) Closed
I booked my Flight from Chennai to Lucknow and Travel was on match **.due to lockdown indigo flight got canceled and indigo processed ful refund to easemytrip.com (my booking agent). Now easemytrip is Addai that they have already refunded that ...
Apr 20, 2020 by ASHWIN KUMAR ARUMUGAM
Wrong refund against cancellation of MMT booking Id (Make My Trip) Closed
I add book ticket from MakeMyTrip for **th of April **** with booking ID : reference number NF **** *** *** ****. Indigo booking reference number is NHT*TP The flight was rescheduled by indigo airlines and with the available option I cancel ...
Apr 20, 2020 by Rajiv Mehrotra
"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