Top consumer complaints in 2024 - Voxya Consumer Forum Online

Airlines Complaints

Indian Airlines Industry has recently become one of the fastest-growing airlines industries in the world. They generate a huge amount of income and employment. There are about 450 airports and more than 1000 registered aircrafts in India today.

But nothing can ruin a holiday than diligently planning a whole trip with excitement, only to arrive disappointedly at the airport to find out that there is some glitch.

The most common airline complaints in 2019 was lost baggage. According to a recent survey, an average of 1 in 150 people have their checked baggage lost or left behind every year. The other common airline complaint is flight delay. Apart from flight delay, consumer often face issues like promised refund not given, ticket cancelled, flight cancelled without prior knowledge, rude staff behaviour etc.

As per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines for flight delays, the Airlines should inform about flight delays promptly to the passengers with reasons. If a flight is delayed beyond 2-3 hours, airlines should offer compensation and assistance, which may include meals, refreshments, and accommodation. Also, the passengers should be given options for full refund or re-booking the next available flight. These guidelines regarding delay and cancellation, helps passengers to understand their rights. Hence it is possible to get flight delay compensation in India.

If you have faced these kinds of problems with your airline, you must have brought it to airline authorities' notice by complaining. In this article, we have mentioned India's famous airlines, and the types of complaints the airlines' passengers face with them.

FAMOUS AIRLINES IN INDIA

1. Go Air: Go Air has secured a spot in the list of best Airlines in India. It was founded in November 2005 by Jeh Wadia, an Indian industrialist. In October 2017, it was India's fifth largest airline and had a considerable market share of 8.4%. The airline is a fully-owned subsidiary of Wadia Group and started its operations in November 2005. The airline operates 230 daily flights to 30 significant destinations, which have 24 domestic and 6 international destinations. The airline has its hubs at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kannur, and Kolkata.

2. Air India Express: Air India Express is an economical airline having its headquarters in Kerala. Airlines are operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's national carrier Air India. It runs around 649 flights per week to 33 Middle East and Southeast destinations. The airline has a fleet of aircraft 25 Boeing 737-800 and carries approximately 4.3 million passengers every year.

3. Spice Jet: Spice Jet is a low-cost airline having its headquarters in Gurugram, India. Initially, in 1994 it was established as air taxi provider ModiLuft and then later in 2004, it was renamed Spice Jet by an Indian entrepreneur and started its operation in May 2005. According to data in March 2019, Spicejet was the second-largest airline in India and had 13.6% of the market share in the number of passengers. Spicejet has a fleet of Boeing 737 and Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. It operates 312 flights daily to 55 destinations, which include 7 international and 47 domestic destinations. Many flights are operated from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

4. IndiGo: Indigo was founded in 2006 by Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal as a private company and had its headquarters in Gurugram. The airline had its first aircraft in July 2006, and it started its operations in 2016. By 2012 it became the largest Indian carrier, and in 2015 it went limited and issued a share to the public. Indigo has an immense fleet size in India and a maximum domestic share. Also, Indigo is the largest individual Asian low-cost carrier in passengers' carried and jet fleet size. Maximum flights of Indigo are operated from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.

5. Air India: Air India is a very own national carrier of India and was founded by J.R.D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932. It has its headquarters in New Delhi, and after the second world war, it became a public limited company. Afterward, it was renamed Air India and is owned by Air India Limited, a government-owned enterprise. With a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, the airline serves 94 international and domestic destinations. Air India has two sister companies Air India Express and Alliance Air, which operates in India and Asian destinations.

6. Air Asia India: Air Asia India started as a joint venture with AirAsia Berhad and Tata Sons. AirAsia Berhad has a 49% stake, and Tata sons have the remaining 51%. It started its operations on 12 July 2014 from Bangalore and has a market share of 6.5%. With a fleet of Airbus A 320-200 aircraft, it serves 24 destinations.

TYPES OF AIRLINES COMPLAINTS

Indian Airlines has seen one of the best growth among all airline industries of this world, but with all this growth and rapid development, our aviation sector has also experienced many kinds of turbulence.

Among 1000s of Indian airline companies, some of the most famous airlines such as AirIndia, Spicejet etc. have seen their customers regularly filing a complaint against them.

Some widespread airline complaints include rude behavior of staff, refund not given, and baggage lost. Apart from this, many airlines have faced aircraft turn-around times, which results in delays in flight for its passengers. Here are some common types of airline complaints:

1. Customer Service
In the past few years, many passengers of some highly reputed airlines have shared their experiences where they had to face the rude behavior of the airline's customer service representatives. Most passengers faced rude behavior, absent onboard services, and poor language skills from the airline's representatives in these kinds of complaints.

2. Flight Delay
In 2019, the Air Passengers Association president accepted that many airlines are facing aircraft turn-around time issues. These turn-around time issues are the main reason behind the delay of flights, which has left many passengers frustrated. Many top airline customers have reported that they were not informed about their flight's updated timings by the airline industry. Thus, failing to use emails or SMS services to inform their customers has made flight delays a pervasive and frustrating issue for consumers in almost all the major cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai etc.

3. Booking and Refund
Another prevalent issue faced by many air passengers is related to airline industries' booking and refund conditions. The most-reported complaint under this category is the lack of flexibility in tickets where airline industries usually decline to refund the amount if something unexpected happens, such as illness or accident of a family member. Apart from this, many famous airlines are reported for being very slow in the procedure of a promised refund. Due to this, passengers have to struggle, and sometimes they are not appropriately compensated. Moreover in recent times of pandemic the most common consumer complaint was that passengers are not getting refund inspite of the fact that their flights were cancelled by the Airlines due to Covid-19 pandemic.

4. Lost Baggage
Lost baggage is one of the most frequently experienced and common issues faced by air passengers in Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata. The airline industries have ignored the inconvenience faced by their customers in case of misplaced luggage. For the past few years and indeed, it has left many passengers upset and disappointed. Many customers have claimed that their lost or misplaced luggage carried their valuables, urgent medications etc. but they have not been compensated appropriately by the airlines.

5. Cleanliness of Cabins
Many airline industries of today's time claim to be more aware of the cleanliness of their cabins, but many passengers of these airlines have actively reported their concern about cleanliness and hygiene. Apart from the poor condition of cabins, cleanliness of washrooms and dirty seats are also some of the most common issues faced by these airline industries' passengers.

5. Meals
Onboard catering has always remained a concerning area for airline industries, which directly results in the passengers' disappointment with the meals offered to them. Many passengers have been served the wrong food and the food quality has also remained low compared to passengers' expectations.

6. Hidden Charges
The bulk of customers' anger is aimed at low-cost airlines that have additional hidden charges that disturb the trip's budget. Such airlines have complicated ancillary fee rules which customers have to read.

7. Change of Aircraft
In recent years there is a trend among some customers where they specifically book preferred seats in preferred aircraft but they feel very dissatisfied when they come to know that they have to change the plane and their preferred seats have been changed.

How to resolve Airlines complaints?

1. File support ticket/send an email:
You can always contact airlines through their official website by going to their contact us section and by sending them an email. Customer service emails of some leading Airlines are:

Air India Express - customersupport@airindiaexpress.in
Spice Jet - custrelations@spicejet.com
Go Air - feedback@goair.in
Vistata - custrelations@airvistara.com

2. Call Customer support:
All these airlines have a 24*7 customer care number who are always willing to help the customer. To resolve these complaints, you can always call their toll-free customer service numbers. The customer care numbers of some of top airlines in India are :

Indigo Customer Care No. - 0124 617 3838
GoAir Customer Care No. - 1860 210 0999
AirIndia Customer Care No. - 1860 233 1407
SpiceJet Customer Care No. - 096540 03333
AirAsia Customer Care No. - 080 4666 2222
Vistara Customer Care No. - 092892 28888
AirCosta Customer Care No. - 1800-4250-0666

3. Report to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA):
If the Airlines is not willing to help or acting aloof at any stage then the consumer can file a complaint with a Government Agency that oversees air travel. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the governing body overseeing air travel in India.

4. Send Legal Notice:
Consumers can send legal notices to Airlines in case it is unable to resolve his complaint. It is one of the efficient ways to handle the issue legally. Check below to know how to send a legal notice to Airlines?

Step 1: Firstly, get a legal notice drafted by a lawyer.
Step 2: Check it properly and make sure it is signed by lawyer.
Step 3: Keep a copy of it for future purposes.
Step 4: Send the legal notice to Airlines by registered post.
Step 5: Keep the slip or delivery report for evidence.

5. File consumer forum case:
Consumer forum deals with consumer complaints and you should approach the consumer forum if you feel that your rights as a consumer have been violated.

If Airlines is not responding to your complaints even after sending legal notice by a lawyer then you should file a case against it in a consumer court.

Here is how you can file a case in the consumer court?

Step 1: Intimate the aggrieved party via legal notice.
Step 2: Draft the consumer complaint
Step 3: Attach all the relevant documents and proofs to support your complaint.
Step 4: Select the appropriate court for filing the complaint.
Step 5: Pay the prescribed court fee that is required to be paid along with the complaint.
Step 6: Submit the case along with the affidavit & fees in the court.

Flying in an airline is often a memorable experience, but sometimes it can be memorable for all wrong reasons, and we have mentioned many of those reasons above. Once again to summarize, it is to be noted that the first point of contact should be the airlines itself. Customer satisfaction is as important to airlines as it is to other businesses.

The airlines have allotted separate ticket desks, lounges and baggage claim sections to help the consumers. If this does not solve the problem then the consumer should file a written complaint to the airline. This will act as a proof that you did something from your side in later stages and moreover put pressure on the airlines.

However if the consumer is still left stranded with nowhere else to go then the consumers can always file a consumer complaint at Voxya. We at Voxya, generally receive about 1000s of complaints related to these Airlines in a month.

So how do we actually resolve these airline complaints? We start a social media campaign and then send an email to the company to resolve the complaint amicably. Moreover if strict actions need to be taken then we draft a legal notice and send it to the concerned airline.

Most Common Issue Reported for Airlines Complaints

Tickets/Flights canceled

Boarding Issues

Refund not given

Staff misbehaved

Damaged Baggage

Fight delay

Changed Seat number

Amount deducted but ticket was not booked

Double amount charged

Fraud by booking agents

Refund not provided for cancelled flight (Air india) ^Open

My parents were to take a SFO-BOM flight with Air India which got cancelled, and have not received refunds worth *,**,*** as was promised *) My parents, with medical issues, were kept boarded for * hours on a flight, and deboarded in the middl...

Nov 21, 2023 by Preey Shah

CLAIM FOR MISSED 2 MISSED TRAIN DUE TO DELAYED BAGGAGE AND EXTREMELY POOR SERVICE (Etihad Airways) ^Open

MY BOOKING REFERENCE NO: W**G*Q WE HAD BOOKED A BUSINESS CLASS AND STILL ENCOUNTERED A PATHETIC SERVICES; *. THE ONBOARD SERVICE DID NOT HAVE VEGETARIAN FOOD AND BOTH MY PARENTS AGED ** AND ** HAD TO DUE SURVIVE ONLY ON FRUITS. *. SECONDLY, ...

Nov 17, 2023 by Sarthak Jain

Refund not received for my cancelled flight PNR (Make my trip) ^Open

PNR: B**IRV DEPT DATE: *TH MAY **** Mail I have shared to Goibibo and Gofirst airlines As no action taken from Gofirst and Goibibo both since past * months. My money is blocked since * months, at the same time,one of my friends got her re...

Nov 14, 2023 by Pallavi gupta

Again clear trip regarding airline cancellation (Clear Trip flights ) ^Open

I have booked a ticket with clear trip on *th November *:**AM CST for etihad airways and I cancelled the same ticket on *th November *:**PM CST which is less than * hours and they have given * Rs refund for the same . As per the india and USA a...

Nov 08, 2023 by Anusha

My flight canceled refund but not credited Booking ID PNR (Easemy Trip Com) ^Open

My flight canceled refund but not credited- Booking ID - EMT*********, PNR - *H**** Please find below refund details: Booking id : EMT********* Refund Amount - *****/- Refund Date - **-**-**** Bank ARN number :- *********************** ...

Nov 01, 2023 by Padma Samanthula

Ticket refund (Ethiopian Airlines) ^Open

I have booked * tickets from Ethiopian Airline site , while booking I opted for extra payment USD *** to cancel my ticket at any point with full refund, but while cancellation i got only USD **** instead of full refund USD ****-***=****, and i...

Oct 17, 2023 by Balaji G

Additional Visa Charges Paid because of change in Flight Number (Make My Trip) ^Open

I have booked a holiday with my family from make my trip to Thailand. They shared the flight ticket details and itinerary with me based on which I have applied for VISA in advance from India only. When they shared flight tickets with PNR number...

Oct 16, 2023 by Kanhaiyal Lal Suthar

MakeMyTrip refund not issue for Indigo flight cancellation (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Open

Indigo Flight: **-Sep-**: Booked Indigo Flight to travel from Kannur-Kerala to Chennai-TN through MakeMyTrip.com for Rs. **** **-Sep-** **:**: Reached Kannur Airport, completed Security to reach Gate ** **-Sep-** **:**: Expected boarding tim...

Oct 08, 2023 by Naren Neelamegam

Refund not given (Happyeasygo) ^Open

I have booked a flight from Go Air in November **** from Hyderabad to Patna dated **th November **** and the flight got cancelled by the airline and Go Air have refunded the money to HappyEasyGo but they are not returning the money and it's bee...

Oct 08, 2023 by Adarsh Agarwal

Refund not credited (Indigo Airlines) ^Open

Hello, this is Ashutosh Agarwal . My wife and Sonam Khandaka traveled from Andaman Port blair to Kolkata to Jaipur. On ** August ****. When we arrived in jaipur and collected our luggage from conveyor belt Number *, We noticed our Samsonite Sui...

Oct 05, 2023 by Ashutosh Agarwal

Go First Air Refund amount not received (Go First Air) ^Open

I Had Booked round Trip Flight Tickets From Bangalore To Port Blair On Feb **th, ****. The Flight Got Cancelled on May **th, **** From Air Line End Due To Technical Operations Reasons And Still, I Have Not Received My Refund Amount. I have c...

Oct 04, 2023 by Kampli Abdul Jameer Ahammad

SpiceJet is not ready to acknowledge or apologize misbehaviour by their staff on 17Sept2023 BLRDEL f (Spicejet) ^Open

Issue: SpiceJet is not ready to acknowledge or apologize misbehaviour by their staff on **-Sept-**** BLR-DEL flight Time: **-September-**** Original group PNR: ZHJTSN Split PNR: BIYH*E Passenger Name: Punit Reference Number: HBB*R*LW Flig...

Oct 03, 2023 by Punit

Denied Boarding and Mental Harrasment (Spicejet) ^Open

Reached SpiceJet gate at *:** AM for a *:** AM Delhi-Jammu flight on Sept *, **** (PNR: VFCH*Q). Though only * minutes late, I was rudely and unapologetically denied boarding. My luggage was also deboarded, causing further delays and complicati...

Sep 26, 2023 by Abhishek Baru

Refund isuue (Fly Dubai) ^Open

I booked my ticket from entebbe to istanbul but due medical issue we were unable to fly and we cancelled the flight * days before the departure date i made so many complains to fly dubai to refund my money but they did'nt gave me any relevant ...

Sep 25, 2023 by SONIA SOHI

Full refund on hotel cancellation despite policy (Cleartrip Pvt Ltd) ^Open

I have bookeed hotel accomoadation (stay city London for my trip to London from *nd October till *th of October, **** on **th September **** through clear trip app. After reading the cancellation policy on the portal that the accommodation ca...

Sep 22, 2023 by Pallavi Chhajed

AirAsia International flight got rescheduled twice and on ticket cancelation the refund is not given (AirAsia) ^Open

Me And My Friends (* People) Booked Return Tickets From Cebu (Philippines) To Chennai (India) For **th Oct ****. A Week Back The Flight Got Rescheduled To **th Oct. I Tried To Cancel The Flights But Since Airasia does Not Have Customer Support ...

Sep 22, 2023 by Kenith Aiyappa

Flight cancelled by Airline Refund not received yet (Spicejet Air Line) ^Open

I have booked a ticket with Spicejet on **.**.**** having PNR EYETSM. The flight was cancelled by Airline , but refunds not recd till date . Airline promised to refund , but not issued till date....

Sep 20, 2023 by Manish kumar

Alliance Air Compensation Request for Flight Delay Flight Number Date (Alliance Air) ^Open

I am writing to bring to your attention the unsatisfactory experience I had during my recent journey with Alliance Air. I (along with my spouse) was a passenger on Flight Number *I***, traveling from Bangalore to Hyderabad (PNR: A*LF*N) would l...

Sep 19, 2023 by Vinay Totla

Money paid to indigo airlines for flight re scheduling but ticket never got delivered (Indigo Air lines) ^Open

I had booked indigo ticket for * passengers from Bangalore to Dehradun for ** of Oct . Since I had to reschedule i splitter the one into two. After splitting was done i re scheduled tickets for my son and wife and paid the difference and resche...

Sep 16, 2023 by vinod khanduri

Missed Flight Due to Medical Emergency CCU to Male (Indigo Air lines) ^Open

I am filing this formal complaint to address the unfortunate circumstances surrounding our recent flight booking from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport (CCU) to Male, scheduled for September **, ****, through Indigo Airlines. The purpose of th...

Sep 15, 2023 by Suprime Bakshi

Refund from Yatra and Air India for flight delay and Cancellation (Yatra Air india) ^Closed

We had an AIR INDIA flight scheduled on **th September from Hyderabad to Tirupathi at **:** PM. We were said that the flight was delayed by * hours prior to ** min of departure and later I guess it was canceled. And It was highly important for ...

Sep 19, 2021 by Mahijendra

Booking amount not refunded (Amit Tour And Travels) ^Closed

During November **** I planned a holiday trip for us (we three couples together) to Himachal Pradesh during **.**.**** to **.**.**** through Amit Tour and Travels – Delhi. The tour operator gave the quotation of *,**,***/- for three couples a...

Sep 11, 2021 by Tejas Pandya

Non payment of Refund (Indigo) ^Closed

iIndigo cancelled its flight Mumbai to varanashi date of travel is on **.*.**** Indigo *E-****. Passenger name Öm Praksh Yadav. ticket cancelled on on *.*.** pnr no EFT**F . sent more the ** reminders and ** telephone call to travellöök...

Aug 29, 2021 by Om prakash Yadav

Online Fraud (Travolook) ^Closed

I booked flight through Travolook and they cancelled it. My amount got deducted but it never got credited. They are asking *-** days and when i searched online whether it's a fraud or not, i saw so many reviews that they don't refund money ...

Aug 27, 2021 by Sahil Monga

Ticket cancelled but refund not added in account (Travolook Www Travolook In) ^Closed

I had booked a flight ticket from Patna to Pune from a site travolook.in at the date ** August ****. after booking it got cancelled within * mints. And I got a call from companies end that my ticket got cancelled due to technical glitch . They...

Aug 26, 2021 by Anshuman Kumar Tiwari

Flight ticket cancelled after card payment (Travolook in ) ^Closed

I have purchased * return flight tickets from Kolkata to Ranchi on **.**.** for traveling to Ranchi on **th October and back on **th October from Travolook. Immediately after purchase my ticket one phone call came from Travolook and I was info...

Aug 24, 2021 by Roushan Ara Momtaz

Airline ticket cancelled and refund not issued (Air India) ^Closed

I had booked tickets from Air India from Toronto to Delhi and back from Delhi to Toronto. I took the first journey but my flight from Delhi to Toronto was cancelled by Air India. The date of the flight was **st May **** and since then I have ap...

Aug 23, 2021 by Gagan Sharma

Ticlet got cancelled (Travo look) ^Closed

I have booked the ticket on travolook.in site on **th august ****. After doing the payment received a mail from travo look stating your booking will be confirmed in ** minutes and after * mins got call that your booking is cancelled due to PNR ...

Aug 14, 2021 by Faesal Dar

Booking of Flight not completed and amout not refunded (Travolook) ^Closed

They duped me and my wife when we booked roundtrip tickets from Mumbai to Delhi. Later we got a call saying that your booking was not confirmed due to operational issues from the Airline. We later investigated and saw that there are many others...

Aug 13, 2021 by Faiz Sobhani

Refund not issued (Travo look) ^Closed

Money was deducted while booking but air ticket was not booked. They promised me a full refund within **-** working days. Now more than a month over. Inspite of calling them repeatedly and raising number of complains still they are asking for t...

Aug 11, 2021 by Saikat Bhowmik

Refund not received from Travolook (Travolook) ^Closed

I am Anup Kumar Jana. I have booked a flight through travolook.in on **-**-****. The booking was from HYD to CCU. Date of Journey was on **th July ****. Reference No. : REF********* Immediately after payment for the booking, I received a call...

Aug 07, 2021 by Anup Kumar Jana

Money not refunded for cancelled flight ticket (Travolook com) ^Closed

I booked the flight ticket at travolook.in: REF*********. They cancelled my booking due to fare increase but the money is not refunded. ...

Jul 26, 2021 by Atul sharma

Dishonest Refund (Goibibo) ^Closed

I have made a refund request on goibibo as I got a message saying that my flight has been cancelled by airline, but all I have received in refund is just **rs. they have claimed my refund request as "requested for the Airport Tax NO SHOW Refund...

Jul 22, 2021 by vekata surya naryana varma sagi

Air India Cheating Customers by not Providing Refund (Air India) ^Closed

I had booked roundtrip tickets on Make My Trip for my parents on February **, **** as my parents had medical appointments. The Kolkata to Chennai tickets were booked for April **, **** and the Chennai to Kolkata return tickets were for April **...

Jul 15, 2021 by Avijeet Kumar Biswas

Refund not received (Travolook) ^Closed

Booked flight ticket from Bangalore to Ranchi on **th of May ****, booking reference number is REF********* , and the amount that was paid was ****, but after * minutes of booking I got a call stating that the flight has been cancelled, which f...

Jul 15, 2021 by Rishabh Monga

Fake flight booking at travolook (Travolook) ^Closed

I booked a flight from Guwahati to Kolkata at Travolook.com. After ** mins I came to know that the booking is cancelled because of “fare expiration in their website”. After researching on Google, I came to know that it is a scam company an...

Jul 10, 2021 by Dharmendra Baruah

Travolook Refund not issue till date (Travolook) ^Closed

I booked a flight from Kolkata to Indore on **rd of April for **th of April. An amount of Rs. **** got deducted and the flight did not even get booked. I got a mail that the booking got cancelled due to fair increase. When I tried calling the...

Jul 08, 2021 by Vootukuri Charitha

REFUND NOT CREDITED YET FROM TRAVOLOOK COM (Travolook) ^Closed

i was trying to book a flight on **th june ****from delhi to patna for **th june **** from travolook website. but my payment go deducted and ticket not booked after fews min i got a call and they said money will be refunded within **-**working ...

Jul 02, 2021 by ANOOP KUMAR

Www travolook in flight ticket not refunded (Travolook in) ^Closed

Thoothukudi to Chennai – *E **** May **, *:** PM–*:** PM Ref********* Using www travolook.in I booked one flight ticket from Thoothukudi to Chennai on May **,**** and paid Rs.****. But unfortunately it was cancelled by travolook.in Ref...

Jun 30, 2021 by Suthakar

Refund not transfered to my account (Travolook) ^Closed

I have booked my ticket on travolook on **th may from banglore to new delhi **** amount was debited from my account but booking was confirmed from travolook and then a received a message and mail that refund will be issued within ** to ** worki...

Jun 30, 2021 by Yogesh Gaba