Aug 16, 2024, New Delhi: Domestic airfares, which had witnessed a significant surge of up to 40% on key routes over the past six quarters, are reported to have risen further since early this month driven by higher passenger traffic and capacity constraints. As India’s festive season begins with Raksha Bandhan, followed by Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali and Chirstmas/New Year, fares of most airlines have started scaling up. In fact, bookings for Diwali travel are now witnessing a sudden surge as fliers are looking at options for travel, according to feedback received on LocalCircles and other social media platforms.

According to many consumers, airline websites and apps tend to employ manipulative tactics at times, also known as 'dark patterns', to mislead customers into paying a higher fare or paying for add on and unintended purchases during flight bookings. Such tactics have drawn sharp criticism, with some authorities even labelling them as cybercrimes. In November 2023, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) discussed the possibility of integrating the National Consumer Helpline with the Air Sewa Portal, a traveler support portal, to help consumers. During a meeting with representatives of airlines and online booking portals DoCA highlighted commonly prevalent "dark patterns" and told them to find ways to counter these deceptive online practices and protect consumers' interests in the travel sector.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had notified prohibition of 13 types of dark patterns in November 2023. These include false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action, subscription trap, interface interference, bait and switch, drip pricing, disguised advertisement, nagging, trick questions, SaaS (software as a service) billing and rogue malwares. Per the CCPA notification, dark patterns amount to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights.

Last year over 10,000 complaints related to deceptive online practices by airlines were lodged with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs via the National Consumers Helpline. These complaints suggest that airlines and online travel portals employ several manipulative tactics or ‘dark patterns’, to mislead customers. Such tactics have drawn sharp criticism, with some authorities even labelling them as cybercrimes.

Common complaints cited by airline consumers on LocalCircles in regard to airlines have been around dark patterns like Forced Action, Drip Pricing, False Urgency and Basket Sneaking. Following up the spate of complaints on its platform, LocalCircles has conducted a survey to find out how often do fliers face the problem of unexpected fare increase, even as they are booking or contemplating doing so, and other dark patterns where they are forced to pay for a seat as free seats are not available, a basket sneaking dark pattern when food or insurance is added by default to the ticket price or drip pricing where price finally paid has many additional charges as compared to the prices shown upfront. The survey received over 55,000 responses from airline fliers located in over 322 districts of the country. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 25% from tier 2 and 29% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

72% consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced air fares being increased if they search for it multiple times in a session

During the peak holiday season, it is normal for air fares to rise. Also, air fares are dynamic and can change multiple times a week or even daily. It is however mystifying why air fares rise in some cases even as consumers are scrolling through an airline website/app or while booking the tickets. However, if a different incognito browser or device is used to access the website/app, the original lower fare is displayed. Some consumers cited in community discussions on LocalCircles that they believe some airlines at times are gauging the probability or likelihood of the consumer booking and basis that showing a higher fare to them. To understand this issue better, the survey asked consumers, “How often have you experienced with airline apps/ websites that the air fares are increased while you search for it multiple times in a session, though if you login from a different device / browser the original / lowest air fares are displayed?” Out of 13,988 who responded to the question, 72% stated “very frequently”; 18% stated “sometimes”; 4% stated “rarely”; 3% stated "never” and 3% of respondents did not give a clear answer. In essence, over 7 in 10 consumers surveyed, who use airline apps/websites, say they have frequently experienced air fares being increased if they search for it multiple times in a session.

62% consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced being presented with a false sense of urgency to get them to book faster

Creating a false sense of urgency by notifying only one or two seats are available, the airline or online travel booking portals often push consumers into making hasty decisions which may backfire if they are confirmed seats which cannot be refunded in case the travel plans get aborted. The survey next asked consumers, “How often have you experienced with airline apps/ websites that a false sense of urgency (Example: last 2 seats or 2 seats available at this price) is created to get you to book faster while later you found the shortage to be artificial or manipulative in nature?” The query received 13,965 responses with 62% of respondents stating, “very frequently”; 19% stating “sometimes”; 7% indicating “rarely”; 9% stating "never” and 3% of respondents not giving a clear answer. To put it concisely, 62% of consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced being presented with a false sense of urgency to get them to book faster.

62% consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced hidden charges associated with flight ticket booking that are not presented upfront but only when making the payment

Most consumers who book flight tickets themselves would have noticed that the price at which they started booking and what they finally pay may be much more due to many hidden charges not shown upfront. The survey next asked consumers, “How often have you experienced with airline apps/ websites that there are hidden charges (other than taxes) that are associated with flight ticket bookings which are not presented upfront but only later when you are making the payment?” The question received 13,913 responses with 62% stating that they have “very frequently” faced hidden charges; 22% stated “sometimes”; 3% stated “rarely”; 10% stated “never” and 3% of respondents did not give a clear answer. In essence, 62% of consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced hidden charges associated with flight ticket booking that are not presented upfront but only when you are making the payment. Many consumers want airlines to display the total airfare to be charged upfront when they are searching for airfares and flights instead of at the last step of payment.

40% consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a service was added to their cart/transaction without their consent

Booking airline tickets online often becomes a hassle when there are unwanted riders/ offers that fox the unwary resulting in the consumer having to pay more than expected. The survey asked consumers booking air travel tickets online, “How often have you experienced with airline apps/ websites that Basket Sneaking (app/ website added additional services to your cart/ transaction automatically) was done?” The question received 13,919 responses with 40% stating that they have “very frequently” faced this situation; 27% stated that they have experienced it “sometimes”; 9% stated it happened “rarely”; 12% stated it has “never” happened with them; 11% admitted “haven’t paid attention to this” and 1% of respondents did not give a clear answer. To sum up, 40% of consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a service was added to their cart/transaction without their consent. Commonly cited examples by consumers were a meal, a seat selection, a preferred/fast lane at airport or an add on insurance.

Type of dark patterns reported by consumers for various airline websites/apps

Many consumers have experienced dark patterns on airline portals and reported the same on LocalCircles. Consumer feedback shows that in the case of Air India, four dark patterns have been experienced on its platform/app which are False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Forced Action and Drip Pricing. There are two dark patterns on Vistara portal/app i.e. Basket Sneaking and Drip Pricing. Consumer feedback on Akasa Air portal cites dark patterns like False Urgency, Forced Action and Drip Pricing being experienced. Dark patterns on Spicejet platform include Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming and Drip Pricing. The maximum dark patterns have been reported on the IndiGo portal/app and include Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Interface Interference and Drip Pricing. It must also be noted that Indigo is the largest airline with nearly 65% market share and the probability of consumers using the airline and experiencing a dark pattern once or more is therefore highest.

In summary, it appears that online booking of tickets on airline websites/apps at this time is ridden with dark patterns and this explains the large number of consumer complaints received by both LocalCircles and the National Consumer Helpline on the subject. The commonly reported dark patterns in the case of airlines are Forced Action, False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Drip Pricing and Confirm Shaming. The survey finds that 72% of consumers surveyed who use airline apps/websites say they have frequently experienced air fares being increased if they search for it multiple times in a session. What is more distressing is that despite government notification warning against over a dozen dark patterns, 62% of consumers surveyed have frequently experienced being presented with a false sense of urgency on online booking platforms to get them to book faster. In addition, 62% of consumers surveyed have frequently experienced hidden charges associated with flight ticket booking that are not presented upfront but only when you are making the payment. Equally distressing is that 40% of consumers surveyed say they have frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a service was added to their cart/transaction without their consent. The survey results underline the fact that beyond notifying and striving to create awareness of dark patterns, the government and regulators need to take deterrent action such that airlines make modifications to their websites and apps and make them free of these dark patterns.

LocalCircles will be escalating the findings of this study to the CCPA, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation so the necessary corrective actions can be taken.

Survey Demographics

The survey received over 55,000 responses from over 20,000 airline fliers located in over 322 districts of the country. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 25% from tier 2 and 29% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform, and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey. The survey was conducted between May 1, 2024 and August 10, 2024.