Domestic air passengers continue to pay high fares due to ‘dark patterns’ or alleged manipulative tactics employed by airlines in the booking process, says a survey conducted by LocalCircles.

According to the survey, airline websites and apps tend to employ manipulative tactics at times, also known as ‘dark patterns’, to mislead customers into paying higher fare or paying for add-ons and unintended purchases during bookings.

The survey said flyers have complained about ‘dark patterns’ such as “forced action, drip pricing, false urgency and basket sneaking”.

LocalCircles said 72% of consumers surveyed say they have frequently experienced air fares being increased if they search for it multiple times in a session.

Besides, 62% of consumers experience a false sense of urgency on online booking platforms to get them to book faster.

Another key concern for flyers is hidden charges associated with booking tickets that are not presented upfront, but only at the time of making the payment.

“Equally distressing is that 40% of consumers surveyed say they have frequently experienced ‘basket sneaking’, where a service gets added to their carts or transactions without consent,” the survey said. “The survey results underline the fact that beyond notifying and striving to create awareness of dark patterns, the government and regulators need to take deterrent action so that airlines make modifications to their websites and apps and make them free of these dark patterns.”

According to LocalCircles, dark patterns have drawn sharp criticism, with some authorities even labelling them as cybercrimes.

In November 2023, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) discussed the possibility of integrating the National Consumer Helpline with the Air Sewa Portal, a traveler support portal, to help consumers. During a meeting with representatives of airlines and online booking portals, the DoCA highlighted commonly prevalent “dark patterns” and told them to find ways to counter these.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority notified the prohibition of 13 types of dark patterns in November 2023.