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From now on, you will not have to pay extra for your preferred seat on a domestic low-cost airline.
IndiGo and SpiceJet charge between Rs 50 and Rs 750 for this service. JetLite and KingfisherRed and Air India don't charge extra for preferred seating.
Coming down heavily on airlines, the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked them to immediately stop taking extra money from passengers for their preferred seating. Passengers picking their preferred seats on the Web are charged extra by some airlines. “Airlines will have to refund fee for seat assignment to those passengers who are booked on flights after July 15 and paid extra for preferred seat,” a senior DGCA official told Business Line .
In a letter to CEOs of scheduled domestic airlines, the DGCA has not just asked them to stop levying such charges but has also directed them to delete any mention about them from their Web site immediately. However, even 24 hours after the communication was sent out, the airline Web sites still showed these services and charges.
The IndiGo Web site, for instance, flags its ‘Seat Plus' service. This allows a passenger to choose a seat either at the time of booking, two hours prior to the departure of domestic flight or four hours prior to the departure of an international flight. On domestic flights, the charge for five seats on the first row or all seats in rows 12 and 13 are mentioned as Rs 400 each, while the seat charge for international flights is Rs 750 over and above the ticket fare. These are the rates for gettingfour inches of extra legroom.
For seats otherthan mentioned above, opted during Web check-in, passengers will have to pay Rs 50 in case of a domestic flight and Rs 150 for international. However, the same service availed at an airport counter is not charged extra. SpiceJet charges Rs 50 for any preferred seat.
The Budget carriers justify the extra payment pointing out that providing extra legroom or giving preferred seat options at the time of booking or Web check-in is an add-on facility. Secondly, if passengers are willing to pay, the regulator should not have any problem. However, despite repeated queries, airline officials refused to divulge their course of action.
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