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Finally, there is some relief for passengers planning to book on Kingfisher Airlines. The airline has informed the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that it has taken off those flights from the booking system which fall into the category of planned cancellation.
Planned cancellation means when an airline sends an aircraft for regular check, maintenance or reconfiguration and no alternative aircraft is available, the flights planned to be operated with the aircraft have to be cancelled.
According to the DGCA rule, approval from the regulator must be sought for the cancellation or alteration of schedule at least seven days in advance.
31 flights
The airline is believed to have planned the cancellation for 27 domestic and 4 international flights between November 4 and November 19. These flights include direct flight from Delhi and Mumbai to Bangkok, four flights on Delhi-Mumbai and four flights on the Mumbai-Delhi route.
Kingfisher did not take the approval of the regulator before withdrawing these flights. Nor did it take off these flights from the booking system. This resulted in passengers continuing to get the option of making bookings on these flights.
They came to know about the cancellation only after making the booking.
What aggravated the situation for the passengers was that other airlines, including Jet Airways, refused to fly passengers travelling on a Kingfisher ticket.
This meant a passenger had to buy a new ticket on another airline to complete the journey, which was costly.
Usually last minute ticket are costly and during peak season, it could be 2-3 time costly than the normal fare.
A senior DGCA official said, “When we inquired about passenger's grievances, Kingfisher told us about the move (to cancel flights).” However, there is no clarity whether the airline has informed all the passengers already booked on planned cancelation flight much in advance, he added.
DGCA regulation
According to DGCA regulation, when an airline cancels its flight due to reason within its control, it needs to compensate the passenger, provide alternative flight or mode of other transport.
The amount of compensation could vary from Rs 2,000-4,000. In such a situation, an airline can put its passenger on the flight of other airline by paying them the price. If the other airline has vacant seats, it cannot refuse to take passenger.
DGCA officials said that, if there are complaint against Jet and other airlines refusing passengers of Kingfisher even if they had vacant seat, then they can be asked to explain.
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