02 April 2014, 04:14 PM IST
One of India's existing airlines announced a sale for airfares stretching into March 2015, basis advance purchase of atleast 90 days, at rates which were amazingly low. I was amongst the lucky people who scored 5 tickets at prices varying from 600 to 2500 rupees on routes like Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Goa and Bengaluru-Goa for dates in October and November 2014 before the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in his kind intelligence and concern for the citizens of India pulled the plug on this customer friendly step and issued a show-cause notice to the said airline, so I guess I shall have to plan my return trips by train or hope for more sales.
The DGCA says that it has, apparently, acted in the larger interests of its core constituency - the Indian citizen who pays for the privilege of flying on domestic airlines. I presume that this is DGCA's core constituency, because without passengers, there would be no need of DGCA for passenger airlines on domestic routes. Unless, ofcourse, it is DGCA's submission that DGCA are there to ensure that their core constituency is the airlines, or the Minister, or the MPs, or the other VVIPs or the officials at DGCA itself, and are well served. Passengers and citizens, ofcourse, it is likely, are not relevant in their larger scheme of things.
Passengers are like game. To be hunted, discarded, hung as trophies maybe! That's what it looks like, if one takes a dispassionate look at some of the other steps taken or not taken by DGCA lately, Where they have dilly-dallied for months and years.
Here, then, are some more steps that we hope the DGCA will take in the larger interest of consumers, travellers, passengers and citizens of India. Now that we know that the DGCA can issue show-cause as well as cease-and-desist notices under their rules on instant basis.
# Please involve the users also as primary stake-holders in what appear to be constantly increasing "User Development Charges". When private airport operators are spending our good and hard-earned money on cricket teams and doubtful art, as well as simply not providing transparency on how they are spending money on contracts awarded for everything from parking contracts to civil works, then DGCA needs to reduce or simply drop these extra charges too.
# Please ensure the return of public transport at airports for all segments of society, from daily wage workers to the elite who may wish to take a bus instead of lugging their cars all the way, because nowhere else in the civilised world do airports ban access of buses, 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and bicycles to airports as they do in India. Delhi, for example, is the only airport in the world where airport staff have to beg or hitch rides to reach the highway from where they can catch buses.
# Please do let us know what eventually happened to the reported dozens of fake pilots, close friends and family members of DGCA and other aviation authorities, who were nabbed not too long ago? Are we as stakeholders in our own safety at least now assured that the person in the cockpit is genuinely a trained pilot and not some sort of cowboy, please, why can't we have them display a copy of their licence as we board the aircraft?
# What is DGCA likely to do about over-priced sandwiches and tasteless food sold onboard planes, excessive parking charges, scams where even to pick-up and drop passengers we end up paying money to hoods, open sale of unhealthy cancer colas and junk food at terminals, lack of sufficient potable drinking water at airports and onboard, not enough toilets for visitors landside, and similar basic facilities?
# All good airports worldwide have very visible signage up letting people at airports know where basic first aid and medical facilities are positioned. Many airports also keep defibrillators and other equipment at multiple places, as well as have ample staff trained in CPR techniques, since flying is a stressful activity. I have yet to see defribillators in public places at airports in India and as for being trained in CPR, have not met a single ground staff at any airport other than the CISF and security staff who even know what I am talking about when I ask them if they know CPR.
# Would DGCA wish to look at the cancellation charges levied by airlines even if a passenger wishes to go on an earlier flight with ample seats available? What are convenience charges for internet booking when Delhi Metro gives its customers and passengers a 10% discount for using plastic instead of buying tickets at counters? Why are airlines bundling emergecny row seats at a price when the need is for trained and able-bodied people? Does DGCA really care for the passenger, what happened to the great announcement of a separate desk for handling passenger grievances?
# And finally, a question I have been asking for some time now, and never getting a response - under which expense head do airports in India, especially AAI airports, place what they spend for specific "VVIP" lounges? Whose money goes in paying for this fraud being played out on the rest of the travelling public.
The one time an airline decided to do something good for citizens, the DGCA comes down like a tonne of bricks, just to show it can! It is like a game for them, and we are the ball to be tossed around, right?
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