Three years, 4,700 complaints against domestic airlines: Govt data

In the past three years, domestic airlines received over 4,700 customer complaints pertaining to handling of baggage, customer service, staff behaviour, and catering.

According to a written reply in Parliament, the maximum number of complaints were received by Air India (2,550), followed by IndiGo (853) and SpiceJet (476). Nearly half of the complaints (1,208) received by Air India were in 2021, and the number declined to 761 in 2022, which also saw its takeover by the Tatas.

The Union government has put in place a mechanism for passengers to lodge their grievances. This can be done through the AirSewa portal, managed by the civil aviation ministry and the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System.

The grievances are taken up with the airlines concerned. If the complainant is not satisfied he/she can file an appeal. Disposal of grievances are monitored at various levels, Minister of State of Civil Aviation, General (Dr) V K Singh (retired) told Rajya Sabha on Monday.

“As per the DGCA reports, which capture actual passenger data, IndiGo has had one of the lowest rate of complaints, an average of 0.08 from Jan 2022- Jan 2023 (less than 1 complaint every 1,00,000 passengers), despite the magnitude of operations. Additionally, a travel partner’s consumer survey indicates that IndiGo has been consistently the foremost airline in India with regard to client servicing. Owing to our services, the customers are appreciative of the measures that we have taken to ensure a safe, on-time and hassle-free flying experience. We have many more thank you messages than complaints," IndiGo said in a statement. 

"At IndiGo, we continue to focus on digitization to ensure contactless travel experience for consumers.  Intervention of technology at every step of the process from check-in to boarding and beyond has helped reduce waiting time at the airport for our customers. We are committed to providing a trusted and reliable flying experience to our customers and building one of the best air transportation systems in the world," the airline added.