NEW DELHI: Using an aircraft toiletmay
remain the only free service for air travellers in coming days as financially-strained
Indian carriers
have started looking at every possible way to make money. Desi airlines,
which collectively lost $2 billion last fiscal, have hiked existing fees and
introduced a host of new ones in last two to three months to boost revenue.
The free check-in baggage limit of 20 kg for domestic flyers is all set to be reduced by 20% to 25% and carrying more weight will mean shelling out Rs 200 per kg. This excess charge used to be Rs 100 per kg in domestic airlines till about two months ago.
Cancelling or changing travel date had so far meant paying Rs 750 for both domestic and international tickets. Now this charge has risen to Rs 950 for domestic and Rs 1,750 for international flights. Taking your licensed weapon on a flight is no longer free. Airlines have started charging Rs 5,000 for this service. Asking the airline reservation counter to give a printout of your e-ticket now means coughing up Rs 50.
The free check-in baggage limit of 20 kg for domestic flyers is all set to be reduced by 20% to 25% and carrying more weight will mean shelling out Rs 200 per kg. This excess charge used to be Rs 100 per kg in domestic airlines till about two months ago.
Cancelling or changing travel date had so far meant paying Rs 750 for both domestic and international tickets. Now this charge has risen to Rs 950 for domestic and Rs 1,750 for international flights. Taking your licensed weapon on a flight is no longer free. Airlines have started charging Rs 5,000 for this service. Asking the airline reservation counter to give a printout of your e-ticket now means coughing up Rs 50.
Airlines used to take unaccompanied
minors (children till 12 years of age) free of cost so far. Now low-cost
carriers have started charging Rs 1,500 on domestic and Rs
3,000 on international flights for taking care of your child travelling alone.
A leading full service carrier has started charging Rs 1,000 and Rs
2,000 for taking an unaccompanied minor on domestic and
international flights, respectively.
All airlines are going to offer passengers pre-booking of seats at the time of buying tickets itself for a charge. People will have to pay more for the front rows. While all the new charges listed above are optional, which can be avoided through proper planning, some airlines have also introduced new or higher charges like convenience and transaction cess which have to be paid at the time of booking tickets.
Coupled with fares, which have gone up by 20-25% after Kingfisher shifted to a curtailed schedule since last November and steep new airport charges at Delhi, air travel is no more a low-cost affair.
Airlines, however, justify hiking charges or levying new ones. "We do not want to raise basic ticket price beyond a point and are looking at ancillary revenue. Some of those charges are deterrent in nature like charging Rs 50 for a printout or getting strict with baggage. If we carry less baggage weight on aircraft, there's more room for cargo and through that indirect revenuefares can be kept in check. It is better than many foreign airlines' practice of making people pay for checking-in even one bag. Passengers who book online should come with ticket printouts and not queue up at airport counters. In just two months of levying this charge, those queues have vanished," said an airline official. European carriers like RyanAir and EasyJet charge £10 for giving a printout at airports
All airlines are going to offer passengers pre-booking of seats at the time of buying tickets itself for a charge. People will have to pay more for the front rows. While all the new charges listed above are optional, which can be avoided through proper planning, some airlines have also introduced new or higher charges like convenience and transaction cess which have to be paid at the time of booking tickets.
Coupled with fares, which have gone up by 20-25% after Kingfisher shifted to a curtailed schedule since last November and steep new airport charges at Delhi, air travel is no more a low-cost affair.
Airlines, however, justify hiking charges or levying new ones. "We do not want to raise basic ticket price beyond a point and are looking at ancillary revenue. Some of those charges are deterrent in nature like charging Rs 50 for a printout or getting strict with baggage. If we carry less baggage weight on aircraft, there's more room for cargo and through that indirect revenuefares can be kept in check. It is better than many foreign airlines' practice of making people pay for checking-in even one bag. Passengers who book online should come with ticket printouts and not queue up at airport counters. In just two months of levying this charge, those queues have vanished," said an airline official. European carriers like RyanAir and EasyJet charge £10 for giving a printout at airports
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