With cases of travellers missing flights due to inclement weather, traffic jams or, for that matter, any last minute hiccups, Air India has come out with a unique first ever scheme “flight for sure” where the passenger would be able to take the next flight for their destinations.
The scheme will, however, come at a cost under which a passenger to avail the scheme would have to pay non-refundable Rs 2,000. In case the flight is missed, Air India will accommodate the passenger in the next flight for the choice of destination by the traveler.
“There have been cases where passengers have missed flights due to inevitable circumstances thus losing huge money. Through this novel scheme passenger will be given the option of fly for sure scheme and a non-refundable amount will be levied. This will guarantee their journey at any cost. To begin with some select destinations, this will be perhaps be the first of its kind in the aviation history,” said a senior Air India official.
The ‘flight for sure’ scheme will especially come handy in cases flights are cancelled due to to inclement weather and passenger are forced to pay hefty fares to book next flights. A case in point is present Srinagar scenario, where flights are cancelled on regular basis due to bad weather.
While normal fare between the New Delhi-Srinagar is around Rs 5,000, at present airliners are charging three times fares for the same route. ON Tuesday, Air India’s Delhi -Srinagar flight’s fare stood at Rs 16,007, whereas a Jet Airways ticket for Wednesday was pegged at Rs 17,684 on the same route. According to IndiGo website, the airfares for its flight from Srinagar to Delhi for Sunday is Rs 12,109.
Due to the massive increase in airfares former J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated that the airlines should be forced to honour previous bookings when flights resume instead they get away with refunding the original amount.
"Tickets between Srinagar & Delhi are being offered by 'low cost airlines' at between Rs 25,000 & Rs 30,000 while the highway remains closed. Thus forcing people who had originally spent Rs 5-6000 on a ticket to spend Rs 25-30,000. This is nothing but day light robbery," Omar said through a tweet.
Further, following its successful decision to deploy the iconic Boeing 747 on Delhi-Mumbai route last month, Air India also added customer friendly measures like allowing up to 40kg and 50kg of free check-in baggage for economy and business class passengers respectively on Boeing 747 Delhi- Mumbai service. Presently, Air India allows 25kg in economy class and 35kg in business class of free check-in baggage on its flights as compared to 15kg offered by other airlines. Besides, in view of recent media reports about shortcomings of onboard facilities for passengers, Air India management has instructed corrective measures to ensure enjoyable and delightful experience for the passengers.