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Journalism of Courage
A recent viral tweet about airline ticket prices has netizens racking their brains over “Cute Charge”.
The debate about “cute tax” started when a Twitter user Shantanu (@shantanub) shared a screenshot of his IndiGo airlines ticket.
In the price summary, Rs 100 was written against “Cute Charge”. While sharing the screenshot with the “Cute Charge” highlighted, Shantanu jokingly wrote, “I know I’m getting cuter with age but never thought @IndiGo6E would start charging me for it.”
As this tweet went viral with thousands of likes, many people joked about the “Cute Charge” and some pointed out that it stands for Common User Terminal Equipment.
https://twitter.com/jais_diary/status/1546157772374347777
Explaining it further a Twitter user wrote, “Airports Authority of India charge the CUTE fees on passengers. The ‘Common User Terminal Equipment’ (CUTE) fees include charges for the use of metal detecting machines, escalators and other equipment in the airport. CUTE fee is sometimes also referred to as passenger handling fee”.
The now-viral tweet also began a debate on the many hidden charges and taxes that customers have to pay in addition to their flight ticket price.
Complaining about the various extra charges, a Twitter user wrote, “User development fee ?? – what user development is being done by indigo? Airport Security fee ?? Is indigo contributing towards salary of CISF personnel posted to airports? Seat fee ?? How else was the passenger supposed to fly if not sitting (airfare charges) ?”
