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
Missed my flight because of the Makemytrip cab services (Makemytrip) Open
I booked a Holiday package from *th to **th December. It includes flights to and fro, Hotels and also cab services. While we are returning from Ooty to Bangalore, cab services from Makemytrip didn't reach the destination on time and gates ...
Dec 17, 2022 by Ravikiran
Didn t get my refund (Indigo) Open
I cancelled my indigo flight dated */**/**** timing *:**pm from Udaipur to Delhi And requested for refund due to medical issues and I got positive response from indigo customer care service and they told me to contact my travel agency so plea...
Dec 15, 2022 by Neha jain
Refund not made on cancelled booking (Make my trip) Open
Due to technical issues, Flight SQ-** was delayed **+ hours by Singapore Airlines. This disrupted my entire travel plans, so I had to cancel. Called Makemytrip for cancellation & refund on Nov **th, **** as soon as I was informed by Singapore...
Dec 14, 2022 by Murali Kumar Singamsetty
Flight cancelled without valid reason and compensation (Go Air Airlines) Open
Respected Sir Good afternoon I am a doctor , working in Abudhabi, I want to bring your kind notice that my travel flight from lucknow to Abudhabi was cancelled without giving any valid reason or compensation and they have informed just * hr...
Dec 13, 2022 by Mohammad Nasir Ansari
Airline left passenger after Boarding pass issued (air asia airlines) Open
My wife and Son was to travel from Delhi to Guwahati by Air Asia Flight No I* *** on **th Nov **** which was to depart at **.** hrs. Accordingly they have reached Airport well in time and checked in, took boarding pass at Air Asia Counter and l...
Dec 01, 2022 by Jatin Kumar Borah ( Jatin )
Booked tickets through the Aertrip travel agent No notification that the airline was not operational (Aertrip) Open
I was looking to travel to Vietnam on a vacation with my family (senior citizens and infant included). I worked with the Aerptrip travel agents to book flight tickets for my entire family originating from Bangalore on Vietjet Air. The flight wa...
Nov 30, 2022 by Shijo Joy
Refiund not issued by Goibibo after bus cancellation (Goibibo) Open
Dear Sir / Madam On **st Feb ****, I booked a bus (booking id GOBUS*f****a*ea) from Pune to Bengaluru from Goibibo website. I have been informed on the call that the bus had been cancelled by the management. Moreover, I have been told that the...
Nov 29, 2022 by Amit Kumar
Refund against deducted amt in flight tkt booking (Indigo Flight Ticket Refund) Open
Dear sir I request that I booked indigo airlince ticket from your agency but amt ***** deduct from my account on ** Oct **** and ticket PNR failed. after this many many time call customer support number and told all problems and maximum time no...
Nov 28, 2022 by HANMANT DADASO MHARNUR
Refund from JetAirways via goibibo (JetAirways via goibibo) Open
I have booked Jet Airways flight ticket via Goibibo airline on Date-**/**/**** my date of journey was on */**/**** E-ticket number- *W/MHUEYV PNR- MHUEYV FROM VADODARA TO MUMBAI but company got dissolved. flight automatically cancell...
Nov 28, 2022 by Haresh Badhabhai Kothari
Rescheduling of the flight (Indigo Airlines) Open
The**:** pm flight from Dehradun to Calicut that was originally scheduled for that day's ** th of November has been changed.to *:** am. Our major goal in travelling is to attend the conference that will be conducted from **th November to ** t...
Nov 15, 2022 by Afshan pallikkalakathu
Baggage number and key locks broken no cause given (Spicejet) Open
Our * bags arrive (very late) and ALL of their locks are broken. One bag had a key lock, the zip was broken, the other two had in built number locks, they were broken as well. The bags were frisked and searched. We spoke to the CISF/airport sec...
Nov 14, 2022 by Chaitanya Atre
MakeMyTrip is not returning money (MakeMyTrip India Pvt Ltd ) Open
On **th October ****, I raised the check-in denied issue to MakeMyTrip against the booked hotel and I have escalated this issue multiple times, still I am not getting any response from MakeMyTrip. It's been almost one month and I still haven't ...
Nov 13, 2022 by Aion Das
Delay of flight four times for no reason (Spicejet Air Line) Open
Spicejet flight delayed by * hours, early intimation of * hours delay given but after going through security check in the airport *hrs delay was intimated through text. And still it is being delayed...
Nov 13, 2022 by Supriya Chaudhary
Lost money due to bug in app refund my amount (Make My Trip) Open
Hi When I was checking the price for bus booking I clicked on remove discount button the booking got done automatically (automatically without showing me price) and money for deducted from my gift voucher - WITHOUT ANY ALERT MESSAGE OR WARNI...
Nov 12, 2022 by Ashwini H
Refund not received (Vietjet Airlines) Open
We had booked a flight from Da nang to Da lat, Vietnam on **st October ****. The airlines delayed the flight by *day and send us the update via email. The *-day delay didn't suit our plans, as all our bookings were already in place for the wee...
Nov 10, 2022 by Siddhi Veera
Refund against flight booking (Travolook) Open
I have tried to booked my ticket but payment has been deducted and the ticket was not issued and received a mail from trevalook on dated **st July **** for refund but till date I have not received any payment even I have doing regular follow wi...
Nov 10, 2022 by Ritesh Kumar
Refund not received (Happy Easy Go) Open
i booked a flight from this app and due to some reasons i cancelled it and it has already been * months since I cancelled my ticket but still haven't received my refund yet ...
Nov 10, 2022 by Divya Erlanki
Service not received and charged me double due to Agoda (Agoda) Open
I have booked the hotel from agoda for *nd Nov **** but when I reached there the owner told me he didn’t received any booking from agoda and he denied my checkin. I was in kashmir with my family and it was *:**pm so I didn’t have any choice...
Nov 10, 2022 by Taruna singh
Negligence by Indigo (Indigo Airlines) Open
Indigo staff did not help me with any assistance at Bangkok Airport when I requested the boarding pass. There were ** minutes still remaining for the flight departure and they told that the flight has already left. Forcing me to buy another tic...
Nov 01, 2022 by Seema Dasila
Hotel reservations system issue (Agoda app) Open
There is a system issue with the Agoda Booking. While I booked for a capsule hotel in Singapore selecting lower bed capsule a month ago. But when I arrived at hotel the booking at hotel shows as upper bed booking. This was serious issue with th...
Oct 31, 2022 by Rehan Pasha
Travolook Refund (Travolook) Closed
On February *st I have booked a ticket from Kolkata to chennai with a reference number ********* and soon after I received a call asking for extra amount because of the fare changes and I asked for a refund on which they said I will be getting ...
Mar 23, 2021 by Alimun Nissa
Wrong refund amount received (Cleartrip) Closed
I booked a flight of total price **,*** on Cleartrip on **-Nov-**** which was scheduled for **-Nov-**** time - **:** but later i cancelled the flight on **-Nov-**** itself and received the cancellation confirmation from Cleartrip in mail and a...
Mar 23, 2021 by Ramesh Singh
Tickets cancelled but amount not refunded (Cleartrip) Closed
* international tickets Chennai to New Jersey USA were booked on Air India through Cleartrip. the Reference Ticket number ************* with PNR JV*QE and Ticket number ************* with PNR JV***. Cleartrip sent a mail on February **th **** t...
Mar 18, 2021 by Sundara Nagarajan
Air India Tickets cancellation Refund not received after 9 weeks also (Self) Closed
Booked Tickets to USA in February,****. Air India cancelled the tickets on *th January,**** and informed refund will be credited within *-* weeks. As on date * weeks completed and **th week is goingon, still not get the refund of Rs. ******/-. ...
Mar 18, 2021 by P L N Murthy
No refund of cancelled Indigo flight during May 2020 lockdown (PayTM) Closed
The Indigo flight from Bangalore to Dehradun on ** May **** was cancelled due to nationwide pandemic lockdown. The airline returned the refund amount to PayTM (from which platform the ticket was purchased) on July-August ****. The Paytm sent me...
Mar 18, 2021 by Sanjay J
Theft of jewellery from checkin baggage (Air India) Closed
my gold earring was stolen from my baggage on **th feb **** while teavelling from goa to new delhi...
Mar 15, 2021 by gourav kumar
Hotel booking through Yatra denied by Hotelier (Yatra.com) Closed
We had a Doctors’ appointment at Apollo Speciality Hospitals Vanagaram, Chennai. Therefore, we booked nearby hotel at Nestlay Rooms Vanagram, Chennai for the period **th March **** to **th March **** vide Booking Reference Number – ********...
Mar 15, 2021 by Shubhankar Das
Flight ticket not booked but money got deducted (Make my trip) Closed
I booked an online ticket using MakeMyTrip app on **th March, **** at *:** PM. Ticket booked for the flight with number AirAsia I* | *** from Goa (**:**) to Mumbai (**:**) through Mobikwik. The transaction has been successful on the end of the ...
Mar 14, 2021 by Vivek Kumar Singh
Refund issue (Travolook Www Travolook In) Closed
I had booked a ticket on **th Jan **** from Mumbai to Indore but it got cancelled due to surge in fares. I received mail saying ticket got cancelled and refunded would be initiated. At first they mentioned you will receive refund in **-** wor...
Mar 14, 2021 by Tejaswini Belekar
AirAsia doesnt refund my money for the flight cancelled due to COVID19 (Airasia Airline) Closed
I have a booked a flight for BLR to DSP(Bali) and return and they were canceled due to covid-** and the amount is refunded to credit account which was the only for refund and now there is no option to use credit account balance to book domesti...
Mar 11, 2021 by Nalluri Venkatesh
Refund not made (Make my trip) Closed
This is in regard to refund request for the PNR TE*KTB and QN*PGQ. We have initially booked the ticket from UDR to DXB on **th Dec **** and return on **th January **** but due to personal reasons, we have rescheduled our flight with the airl...
Mar 11, 2021 by Rukhsana Banu Khakher Wala
Flight Boarding issues (Air India) Closed
I was not allowed to board Kolkata bound flight . Reason I didn’t had covid test report. I was harrased at airport . There was no communication from air India on carrying test report . Same details was not asked while I completed web check...
Mar 11, 2021 by Aseem
Refund money not yet credited (Make My Trip) Closed
I proceed my refund from make my trip on date ** Feb. I have submitted all my details of my bank account they said they will refund on or before *nd March but it's **th already and my money is not yet credited in my bank account....
Mar 11, 2021 by Kshetrimayum chengloulemba
Flight cancelled by airlines refund not received since 3 months (Yatra) Closed
I've booked my ticket through Yatra but the airlines cancelled my flight for a full refund. I contacted Airlines and they mentioned refund have been processed on **th Jan **** and they have given me ACM number confirming they have processed ref...
Mar 09, 2021 by Gajjala Ankit Nigam
Ticket not refunded by the Airline (Go Air and HappyEasyGo) Closed
My flight was cancelled due to nationwide lockdown announced by the Government of India. I had booked my ticket to Delhi from Mumbai with Go Air for * April ****...
Mar 02, 2021 by Saket Sahai
Credit shell not received in eCash (Yatra.com) Closed
Tickets booked for travel to Delhi from Bangalore in Spicejet PNR no. ****** And reference no.************ on March ** **** got cancelled due to covid and amount got transferred to Spicejet credit shell in due course of time. This amount of aro...
Feb 28, 2021 by Neelakantan P R
Yatra Resorting to Fraud to Cheat Customers (Yatra) Closed
After over a month of pursuing Yatra for Refund through numerous emails and complaints on Voxya and National Consumer Helpline, Yatra had informed me that it has initiated refund and the same will reflect on my bank account within *-* working d...
Feb 25, 2021 by Avijeet Kumar Biswas
Shocking experience with airasia Flight time preponed without prior information (Airasia Airline) Closed
HI Team, On *nd Feb I had a very unpleasant experience before flying with Airasia flight number I***** , Booking Number O**VYP. This was a connecting flight from GOA to Bhubaneswar supposed to be boarded at *.** AM from Bangalore to Bhubaneswa...
Feb 24, 2021 by Abhishek Mahuri
Refund Issue for Travel Agency (Make my trip) Closed
We have booked Holiday Package with make my trip in Jan ****, Travel schedule was on **th Feb ****, Because of Corona situation Travel got cancelled & after lots of fight they given us the Gift card with * year Validity of Rs. ******, they got ...
Feb 24, 2021 by Nirav Shukla
Refund on PNR (Airasia Airline) Closed
Refund awaited on PAN MZ**KC booked with Air asia India (Hyd to BLG)...
Feb 18, 2021 by Vinay Totla
"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