With low-cost carrier IndiGo stating that it will charge passengers for selecting any seat through web check-in, the ministry of civil aviation on Monday said that it will examine whether this charge falls within the fare unbundling scheme which is allowed under the
rules.
Under the fare unbundling rules, the aviation regulator allows airlines to charge for things beyond airfares so that they can raise their revenues. Aviation analysts, however, said the fare unbundling rules generally apply to preferential services for which there’s a demand.
No need to pay extra charges for Web-Checkins. No long queues for checking in your luggage. Avoid unreasonable tariff & reduce your carbon footprint by travelling on the good old Indian Railways at affordable rates. pic.twitter.com/ks9fVphoLO
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 26, 2018
Responding to a tweet from one of its customers, IndiGo on Sunday said its passengers would have to pay for a seat to complete their web check-in.
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“As per our revised policy, all seats will be chargeable for web check-in. Alternatively, you may check-in at the airport for free. Seats will be assigned as per the availability,” IndiGo said. On Monday, the airline issued a statement which said there has been no change in its web check-in practice.
“If the passengers have no particular preference for seats and would not like to pay for advance seat selection, they can either reserve any free seats available at the time of web check-in or will, of course, be assigned seats at the time of airport check-in,” it said.
It was, however, not clear whether free seats will be available for web check-in in all its flights at all the time.
“While the preferred seat pricing starts as low as Rs 100, there would be some seats that may be available for free depending on the market dynamics for the flight. Thus, there are some seats that are available for free at a certain time period before departure (eg one day before departure) or on certain aircraft type (eg, ATR operated flights),” it said.
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It said this is a common practice followed by airlines across the globe. “The customers can always obtain the seat at the airport kiosk check-in or counter, though this may not guarantee that they would be assigned the seat of their choice.” the statement said.
IndiGo reported Rs 652 crore loss for the September quarter due to high fuel costs and rupee depreciation. IndiGo shares ended 2.2% up at Rs 1,049.