DGCA red-flags airlines with 1,500 passenger complaints of very poor service

Reality can be bitter and passengers of domestic airlines in India often face it. True that low air fares have prompted a spurt in domestic fliers. But behind the glitzy photographs of aircrafts and promises of customer satisfaction, it's really a world of unhappy fliers at the airports in Delhi and other major cities. Their awful experiences shred the tall claims made by the domestic airlines into pieces. Across the airlines, from Air India to Spicejet, it's the same story. And the numbers of such experiences are increasing by the day.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the national regulator, has been flooded with hundreds of complaints by travellers against domestic airlines that range from rude staff behaviour to abysmal customer services, poor handling of delayed flights to lack of access for persons with disabilities.

DGCA officials said they had received about 1,500 complaints during the two months of June and July, or almost "one complaint every hour". These complaints have forced DGCA to tighten the screws on airline staff.

Sample some accounts of problems faced by passengers: Puja, who travelled on an Indigo flight between Delhi and Ahmedabad, complained of misbehaviour by airline staff at different levels in Delhi. "I was going to Ahmedabad from Delhi airport's Terminal 1D. At the domestic terminal, I noticed that my pouch containing $400 is missing. When I told Indigo's terminal manager, instead of helping me, he just flatly refused to do anything. He didn't even guide me on what I should do. The manager's tone was totally rude,'' said Puja, a chartered accountant. She went to at least five other Indigo officials but got no help. "Everyone was rude and replied so badly that I started crying at the airport. Finally, I lodged a complaint with Indigo," she said.

Rafieah Ansari, who was travelling on a Spicejet flight from Varanasi to Delhi, complained of harassment by the airline's staff in Delhi. Ansari wrote in a complaint: "After getting off the aircraft, I was going in a bus from the aircraft to the terminal. I noticed a few of my belongings were missing. When I told the airline staff, they were not cooperative at all." (See more complaints in box.)

A DGCA official told Mail Today, "The figures for August are yet to be tabulated, but nearly 24 to 25 complaints from passengers reach us daily. About 900 complaints were filed in June and another 581 reached us in July. Compare this with the last decade, when we used to get about 2,000 to 2,500 complaints in an entire year."

DGCA officials said misbehaviour by airline staff was the "most worrying factor" and a prime reason for the wrath of travellers. For instance, Navin Bhatt booked a return ticket on a Spicejet flight from Delhi to Pune. When he reached Pune airport for his return flight at 7.25 am, he was told the flight had been rescheduled for 4:00 pm.

"There was no one to cooperate and understand the problem and harassment caused to me due to this surprise change in my flight schedule,'' he wrote in his complaint.

Passengers have complained against all domestic airline operators, but Air India topped the list with 213 of the total of 581 complaints filed with DGCA last month. "Nearly 213 complaints were made against Air India alone, followed by Spicejet and Indigo. Go Air is not far down in this list of airlines either," a DGCA official said.

Air Asia, launched in June, attracted complaints from 15 out of every 10,000 passengers carried by it - which officials said was a very high rate.

During a recent meeting, the DGCA chief discussed the complaints with other officials and said the airlines should be directed to minimise problems and "effectively" address the grievances of fliers.

An officer said, "We have now directed the airlines to give proper details of every complaint and the action taken on it. Soon, the DGCA will take strict action against airlines that ignore complaints."

Going by the different heads under which complaints are lodged, the maximum were about customer service, which is indirectly linked to second largest category of complaints about staff misbehaviour.

Both together accounted for nearly 38 per cent of the total complaints filed in July. The figures for June were similar.

Passengers also complained that a host of the woes of travellers were linked to delayed flights and the handling of passengers during such period.

Quoting a complaint, a DGCA official said, "You make us wait for three to four hours at the airport because of delayed operations without even offering a bottle of water... DGCA guidelines direct airlines to take adequate care of passengers stranded at airports."

Officials further said that between June and July, complaints about staff misbehaviour increased by 80 per cent. In June, 7.9 per cent of the total complaints were related to errant staff and this figure reached almost 12 per cent in July.

A wake-up call

According to observers, it certainly should be a wake-up call for the domestic airlines that want to run profitable operations. If customer satisfaction is thrown out of the window, and complaints are not taken seriously, then these airlines will face a tough time and may fly into oblivion. Hopefully, say the analysts, DGCA's warning will bring back the airlines and their staffers to the senses. Customer is always the king, for all the times.