With over 10,000 complaints filed against airlines on National Consumer Helpline (NCH) in the past one year, the Department of Consumer Affairs is looking to identify and curb online dark patterns being deployed by several airlines.
Out of the filed complaints, 40.8% pertain to cancellation of tickets without any initiation of refund, and around 14% apiece for damaged luggage or deficiency in services.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has also red-flagged instances of all available seats being provided for a "fee" even in cases of a mandatory web check-in which is advertised as free.
Refusing to comment on airfares and their fixing mechanism, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh specified that services need to be delivered fairly once a ticket is confirmed.
He said that a free web check-in should indeed be free and consumers can't be forced to pay more without advertising that a service is paid or free.
Observing a slowdown on online seat booking, Special Secretary with the Department of Consumer Affairs, Nidhi Khare, told CNBC TV18 that there have been instances of "fishy" & "suspicious" changes in the prices of seats within a span of few hours.
She added that consumers are often shamed or unduly pressurised if they refuse to avail insurance while making an online booking of airline seats. The next meeting on this issue between the government, consumer bodies, airlines and travel aggregators is on November 8.
(Edited by : Anand Singha)
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