As air traffic soars, 9 in 10 passengers believe India based airlines have been compromising on comfort and cutting corners in the last 24 months

December 27, 2023, New Delhi: India’s domestic air passenger has been surging over the last few years with a 9% rise observed in November and 1.27 crore passengers traveling in the month. The Airports Authority of India has projected the all-India passenger growth as 371 million passengers in 2023-24 and 412 million in 2024-25.

While the aviation sector in India is looking at good growth in 2023-24 and many airlines are planning to acquire more aircraft, is the flier experience showing any improvement or has it deteriorated is the question many are asking. Since October, LocalCircles has seen a surge in complaints from fliers about excessive fares, cancelation of flights, delayed flights, boarding denied, luggage being damaged or misplaced, steep hike in onboard food prices, changing the boarding gate silently, rude behavior of staff at check in counters, etc. The complaints have hit a new peak this week as many headed to the airport to board flights during their Christmas and New Year holidays.

To quantify the experience of airline passengers in 2023, LocalCircles conducted a national airline passenger sentiment survey which received over 25,000 responses from air travelers located in 284 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 47% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 20% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

78% of respondents indicated they had faced one or more issues when flying in the last 2 years

The first question in the survey focused on understanding the percentage of passengers who faced one or more issues when flying in the last 2 years. It asked them, “Have you faced some issues with India based airlines in the last 24 months? Majority or 78% indicated they had faced one or more issues when flying in the last 2 years and the remaining 22% stated no, they had faced no problems. 12,902 fliers responded to the question.

Aircraft maintenance, boarding, check in procedures, baggage handling and inflight services are among top issues faced by fliers in the last 24 months

The detailed question sought to know “what are some of the top issues faced by fliers in the last 24 months have been?” Some respondents indicated more than one issue. The largest group of 39% indicated in-flight services including meals and entertainment; 35% had issues with boarding and check-in procedures and baggage handling; 30% indicated poor aircraft interiors including seats, entertainment systems; 17% had issues with airlines not timely sharing information; 17% have been hassled by flight delays; 9% had issues with airline staff behavior inside the flight and at the airport; 9% indicated unidentified other issues. Airlines overbooking and denying boarding to passengers showing up a few minutes late was a common issue reported along with rude behaviour of staff in many such instances. In the community discussions, some fliers also pointed to a malpractice by certain airlines where those arriving a few minutes late were directed to re-book themselves at the ticket counter thereby paying more money to the airline for a same day booking.

88% of respondents felt India based airlines have indeed been compromising on passenger comfort and have been cutting corners over the last 2 years

The next survey question sought fliers’ views on whether “India based airlines have been compromising on passenger comfort and have been cutting corners in the last 24 months?” This query received 12,823 responses out of which 88% felt India based airlines have indeed been compromising on passenger comfort and have been cutting corners over the last 2 years. Remaining 5% of respondents felt this was not true and 7% indicated “can’t say”.

The LocalCircles ‘India Airline Passenger Sentiment Survey 2022’ had revealed that 79% passengers who participated believed airlines were compromising on passenger comfort and cutting corners and in the 2023 survey, this percentage has surged from 78% to 88% indicating deterioration of customer service and care. According to feedback received n the LocalCircles community discussions, many fliers continue to believe that the aviation regulator has largely been ignorant on airline customer service shortfalls that they regularly experience and that it must ensure better services and behaviour of airline staff and faster escalation mechanisms that are available in real time to passengers.