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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation aim to make information on fares public was to help passengers,but the tariff cards put up by airlines late on Tuesday are unlikely to be of any use as all airlines have prominently put up only their base fares cards,which are deceptively low. Key information on fixed fuel surcharge is buried in most of the tariff cards. Also,the cards do not include additional fee that passengers have to pay like service tax,and user development fee.
If a low cost airlines tariff cards are to be believed,fares are available to passengers at attractive rates like Re 1,Rs 95,and Rs 101. But a passengers will need a host of additional information when they buy a ticket like fuel surcharges,passenger service taxes,and airport user development fee. A low-cost airline has offered Re 1 as the cheapest fare it has on the Mumbai to Jaipur route on its December fare chart. But the final fare that passengers will have to pay is at least Rs 2,282 if they book early enough to avail of this fare. Although this fare is listed for December,it is not available in the system till early February.
The tariff cards list out the various fare brackets that are available to passengers throughout the month. Airlines list as many as 14 fares on each route,on the economy sector,and around four to six fares on the business class sector but it does not list how many tickets will be available against each fare bracket. So many of the cheaper fares will become invalid as most airlines slot very few seats against the cheap fares on offer. Where are these tariff cards making fares more transparent? It is unfair for airlines to not be upfront about all the other charges and taxes. It gives people false hopes, said Rateria.
Travel agents say although the airlines have put up fare cards,passengers would have to book well in advance and keep an eye out for the cheaper fares on a dynamic basis.
December and January are traditionally a peak season for airlines. Airlines have limited inventory at this time,they will take full advantage of it,and they are unlikely to bring down their fares, said Dharmendra Gursahani,treasurer of Travel Agents Federation of India.
Agents also say that fares are subject to demand and supply and that they have not gone down significantly. Today morning a corporate client called after he heard the minister and the DGCA say that fares have been slashed. He bought a business class ticket from Mumbai to Calcutta at Rs 26,600 on November 23,his return ticket also on the business class is for Rs 33,682. He asked us to check our systems again and rebook on the discounted fares. But we have not found that fares have gone down. Such fares remain, said Shashi Mokal,a travel agent with Travelmartindia.com.
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