Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to ensure that airfares shown on metasearch engine websites are not higher than the ones displayed on the carriers’ sites. The advisory comes amid a surge in ticket prices.
The DGCA has also advised international travellers to check the websites of airlines for actual fares before booking their tickets.
“Passengers travelling to international destinations are requested to check the fare preferably from the website of the concerned airline as the meta search engines at times do not reflect the actual point to point fare and do make combinations of multiple Airlines and end up with an exaggerated figure,” said the advisory.
As per a Mint report, the DGCA has asked airlines to explain the exorbitant fares they were charging for flights between India and UK.
Bureaucrat Sanjeev Gupta had raised the issue of skyrocketing prices of tickets on Twitter. He tweeted that one economy class ticket on a British Airways’ Delhi-London flight for August 26 cost a whopping Rs 3.95 lakh.
“Fare of ₹ 3.95 lakh one way Delhi to London on Aug 26. No, it's not 1st class. It's economy on @British_Airways. @airindiain @airvistara etc. also 1.2 to 2.3 lakh. College admission time! See minimum fare on @GoogleTravel in August. Have alerted Secretary @MoCA_GoI. @JM_Scindia,” tweeted Gupta.
Currently, Gupta is the Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat, Union Home Ministry.
Since May 25 last year, lower and upper limits have been placed for domestic airfares in the country. No such limits were placed for international flight tickets and that has led to this surge in airfares.
