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.
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. 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 amount not paid by JET AIRWAYS (Jet Airways) Open
I had booked tickets from Mumbai to Delhi (*W-***) on ** May **** and return ticket from Delhi to Mumbai (*W-***) on ** May **** on Jet Airways airline. I booked these bookings from agent Via.com. As we all are aware that Jet Airways has susp...
Nov 07, 2020 by Swapnil Prabhudesai
Makemytrip not refunding the travel amount (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
We had booked a flight in Goair via MakeMyTrip for July *th, ****. Due to covid lockdown, the flight got canceled. GoAIR team confirmed that they have done a full refund of the reservation and the same has been initiated to Makemytrip. For the ...
Nov 07, 2020 by Rijo George
Happy Easy Go not providing refund for cancelled flight (Happy Easy Go) Open
I booked air india tickets for may and flight was cancelled due to covid still happy easy go not providing refund. I have written confirmation from air india to contact happy easy go for refund as they dont have the money and flight was cancell...
Nov 06, 2020 by Shradha Rahul Chikalge
Damaged check in baggage (Go Air Airlines) Open
I had checked in * bags & * trekking pole from Leh to Bangalore on **th Jan ****. On reaching Bangalore I realized my Trekking pole didnt reach Bangalore & was asked to wait for * */* hrs in airport to pick up my pole (was dispatched by next...
Nov 05, 2020 by Asha
Have not received the refund since Oct (Air India) Open
I have cancelled my ticket calling Air India call centre. I booked ticket through easemytrip. They say call AirIndia and AirIndia says call Ease my trip. Both are not serious about refunding. ...
Nov 03, 2020 by Pallavi Das
Partial Flight refund recieved (Make My Trip) Open
I had booked international fligh from Bangalore -- Dubai -- Amsterdam. Due to lockdown, my flight was cancelled. My booking amout was ₹ ***** After * months i got a refund of *****. I checked with emirates and they said they have refund...
Nov 03, 2020 by Divya Jain
Regarding Cancellation and refund of my flight itinerary (Goibibio) Open
I am writing here to place a few serious concerns regarding the cancellation of my travel itinerary which was booked by the travel expert Mohd. Saqib from Make My Trip on October ** (attached here is the pdf copies of his emails). Please no...
Nov 02, 2020 by Arindam naha
Refund issue by GOIBIBO (Goibibio) Open
I have booked flight airasia through GOIBIBO, PNR: K*UHU, but flight was cancelled by airline, as checked with airline refund was credited to GOIBIBO but there is no refund from goibibo... Surname: SHOW ...
Oct 31, 2020 by pradip show
AirAsia Makemytrip Cheating me (AIRASIA MAKE MY TRIP) Open
This is to inform that I have canceled my jonney due to covid,** as the flight was non operational. First one I canceled on *th july ** ( From Bagdogra to Delhi). They initiated the refund but the amount yet not credited into my bank account. ...
Oct 31, 2020 by RAJU SAHA
Refunding of flight booked during COVID19 (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
I had a trip to Bali in April **** which could not happen due to COVID-**. I had paid full amount for the VietJet flight and initiated a refund for the same. I booked this flight from Makemy trip,. However, there has been little or no communica...
Oct 29, 2020 by Shashank
Fraud company GOIBIBO Flight company said take full refund and Goibibo deducted charges behalf of fl (Goibibo) Open
FK GOIBIBO company. I received refund after submitting * requests Or you can say begging for * times for my money. And they refunded into the Fking GoibiboCash wallet they says so I have to use their Fking site again to use MY MONEY. I recei...
Oct 29, 2020 by Pranav Nijampurkar
Refund (Goibibo airlines) Open
I booked flight through Goibibo for *th Nov Mumbai to udaipur via spice jet. My flight got cancelled and i got a msg from spice jet that full amount refunded. But today I received a amount in which goibibo deduct *** Rs. Please refund asap. PNR...
Oct 28, 2020 by Prashant Pipara
Refund against Cancellation (Air India) Open
I was trying to book a ticket from London to New Delhi for **th August.(PNR: J*F**) Even after making payment (GBP), I did not receive ticket and when I checked my PNR, it was displayed as “PNR got cancelled” .Even called Customer care and...
Oct 28, 2020 by Gaurav Narula
Refund of Flight Tickets (Air india) Open
I Have Book Two Way AirIndia Flight Tickets From Frankfurt To India For Me And A One Way Ticket For My Husband From India To Frankfurt On Travel*be Site. They Are Non Refundable Tickets. But Because Of Corona Lockdown The Flights Are Cancelled....
Oct 27, 2020 by Bindulatha Donadula
Amount not refunded (Make my trip) Open
I got credit voucher from Go-Air against my flight cancellation for Rs ***** booked through make my trip. Booking Id NN*************. However, when I tried to book another flight using my credit voucher, the booking got auto canceled and amount...
Oct 25, 2020 by Aniruddha Vijay
Refund not issued (Goibibo) Open
I had booked my flight ticket round trip of april month via goibibo and due to covid flight has been cancelled itself by airlines and its six months completed but still there is no status of refund. there is no customer assistant responding si...
Oct 24, 2020 by ARCHANA SINGH
Non refund of flight tickets due to lockdown by Spicejet (Spicejet) Open
I had booked * flight tickets on December *, **** (booking date) for Mumbai to Bagdogra. The flight tickets were dated March **, ****, the day nationwide coronavirus lockdown was announced. I requested for refund since the flights were canceled...
Oct 24, 2020 by ANJAN SENGUPTA
INORDINATE DELAY IN REFUND OF FLIGHT TICKET CANCELLATION (Makemy Trip) Open
Booking ID No.NN************* PNR :J*DBDM Under Global Travel Waiver Policy of Singapore Airlines Request for Cancellation – Non operation of flights Referring to above subject, I have booked above ticket through Makemy Trip (MMT) and c...
Oct 24, 2020 by VANI CHITAMANNI
Refund not yet received even after 40 days of ticket cancellation (Goibibo) Open
I was intimated that the indigo airline ticket is cancelled on **- September-**** and refund would be initiated at the earliest. But no refund was made. Again on **-October-****, I received a message that the refund amount of Rs ***** is proces...
Oct 23, 2020 by Sreejith
Not issuing refund for a cancelled flight ticket for 8 months (Flipkart) Open
Booked a ticket from Flipkart Travel for **nd Feb, however made an error in the booking. Spoke to Flipkart Support who advised to cancel directly with AirIndia so that there is no cancellation changes, which I did. Air India confirmed that ***%...
Oct 23, 2020 by Vivekanand Pandey
Refund Not yet Proccesed (Go Air Airlines) Closed
I booked my flight ticket on *th June,**** from chennai to Pune via makemytrip.com. My flight number is G*-*** and date of travel is **/**/****. I have sent several mails from my Mail Id, no response from GO AIR yet, they said someone would cal...
Jul 02, 2020 by vinod Kumar
Ticket money refund (Air India Airlines) Closed
Refund for a cancelled ticket. No response inspite of repeated mails. ...
Jul 02, 2020 by Sharon Pradeeptha
Air India not refunding amount (Air india) Closed
My flight got canceled, but didn't get any refund and communication from air india. I have send several reminder email called customer care but no help My details are as follows E-Ticket number starting with *** (** digits) : ************...
Jul 01, 2020 by Biswajit Nag
REFUND FOR THE TICKET (Spice Jet Airlines) Closed
I have booked a ticket in Spice jet through yatra.com . For the PNR A*F*K*. They did not informed me about the flight which was cancelled also i did not recived my money back ...
Jul 01, 2020 by Sarvesh
Unable to Reschedule my tickets uner PNR (Go Air) Closed
Have been trying to reschedulemy tickets for Delhi-Goa Sector scheduled for travel on August **,****. Want to reschedule to November **** due to ongoing COVID situation. On trying to manage booking online an additional cost of ***** - ***** bei...
Jul 01, 2020 by Deepti Sardana
Air india issue me a ticket delhi to nyc usa but charge me amritsar to nyc (Air India) Closed
I buy air india RT ticket nyc us to amritsar return date was ** april **** same time india enforce lock down because covid -** after that AI issue me new one way ticket for * July **** thay charge me again rupee ***** I was already paid RT far...
Jul 01, 2020 by Manmohan singh
Refund my amount (GoAir Airline) Closed
My flights has canceled by airlines company now they are not giving refund and saying to change booking online and when i am trying to change my booking they are charging me extra charges on rescheduling on date change and even they are not all...
Jul 01, 2020 by Aanchal Phutela
My money got deducted and flight ticket is not booked (Yatra) Closed
While booking flight ticket from yatra, my money **** got deducted and ticket was not booked. I got below message also from yatra. Dear Customer, Yatra has not received a response from your bank for booking reference number ************* . ...
Jun 30, 2020 by Manisha Sharma
Refund not credited (Air India Express) Closed
This is my seventh email to air India for to get my refund, I applied for a refund with penalty despite Air India Canceled flight from their side.For the last three months I have been sending a message to air India for getting my refund, unti...
Jun 30, 2020 by Jijo Sebastian
GoAir not refunding the Cancelled flight (Go Air) Closed
I reserved the ticket by online direct GoAir flight to travel on **-May-**** from Kuwait to Kannur (KWI-CNN). The Air line cancelled the flight and they are saying to uses again with in one year. I send many emails to them to them informing th...
Jun 30, 2020 by IBRAHIM C PARAMBATH
GoAir not refunding for Cancelled flight (Go Air) Closed
I reserved the ticket by online direct GoAir flight to travel on **-May-**** from Kuwait to Kannur (KWI-CNN). The Air line cancelled the flight and they are saying to uses again with in one year. I send many emails to them to them informing th...
Jun 30, 2020 by IBRAHIM C PARAMBATH
Goibiborefund (Goibibo airlines) Closed
I have made a spice jet flight booking from Goibibo on ** th june vide PNR FYHR*J, flight got cancelled from the airlines itself I have been chasing for the refund from almost ** DAYS but till date I have not recieved any refund from Goibibo. ...
Jun 28, 2020 by Ishita
Go Air Cancelled by Airlines and Refund not provided (Go Air Airlines) Closed
I got the confirmation from GoAir the day before travel that flight got canceled and I will be refunded with the amount. However, till date I did not receive the refund My flight got canceled on March ** ****. Previous ticket raised with Go Air...
Jun 28, 2020 by Sougata Banerjee
Flight cancelled (Go Air) Closed
They don’t tell prior about flight will cancel and afterwards they are not even refunding money my flight was Booked for the date ** June **** From Pune to Jabalpur connecting flight G* *** as they didn’t inform about cancellation also the...
Jun 27, 2020 by Priyanka soni
Didn t receive refund from Goibibo for flight cancelled (Goibibo airlines) Closed
I request Goibibo to refund the money of my cancelled ticket with due respect. I have cancelled my family flight ticket (PNR Number: O*XRJB, travel dates :** April and **th June, ****) from Hyderabad-Shanghai-Hyderabad ticket on ** March,***...
Jun 27, 2020 by Afroz Khan
GoAir Flight 118 Cancelled by Airlines and Refund not provided (Go Air) Closed
This is to bring to your notice that my Go Air flight G*-*** scheduled to fly from Bengaluru to Delhi on *th June ****, was cancelled by Airlines and was intimated to us ** hours before departure. There was no alternative travel option provided...
Jun 27, 2020 by Gaurav Barman
Rescheduling refund of my booking cancelled due to Covid19 (Gopal Singh) Closed
I have booked * tickets from Bangalore-Delhi-Bangalore having PNR-FEIIVA/BBWN*T/RP*Y*U/VG*PQV., trying to reschedule these ticket from last * month but unable to use credit shell. when called air line they confirmed that they have refunded the ...
Jun 27, 2020 by Gopal Singh
AirIndia refund not received (Airindia) Closed
I had booked a flight from Germany to India and a return flight for April ** ****. Airindia cancelled my flight in mid March, but they haven't refunded my money yet. I have made a number of calls to the customer care and have written dozens of ...
Jun 23, 2020 by Gargi Ampli
Ticket Refund not given pnr (Goair) Closed
I have booked a flight from Jaipur to Bengaluru. for **th May due to lockdown its reschedule to ** June. then after I have changed to * June. but all goair flights canceled from jaipur. i have waited for more than ** days but no goair fligh...
Jun 22, 2020 by Ankur sharma
Technical Glitch in Cleartrip website (Cleartrip Flights) Closed
Team, I have booked the ticket correctly through Cleartrip. I have mentioned my wife first name and middle name and last name. I have also mentioned my daughter first, middle and last name. Issue: My name which I have entered as middle name ...
Jun 21, 2020 by Yogesh panjwani
"Number of times I tried to get a refund from OYO but they did not bother. But after I approached Voxya, they nicely handled the matter and I got my refund."
Samit Brahmachari
Complaint filed against: OYO Hotels