79% flyers unhappy with services: Airlines business reviving but passenger comfort remains low

The country’s aviation sector may be flying high again after the pandemic, but passenger happiness is unsatisfactorily low. Even as Icra data indicates that domestic air passenger traffic has logged a 69% year-on-year growth with 35.7 million passengers travelling during January-April 2022, as per a LocalCircles survey, passengers feel that most airlines are compromising on passenger comfort by cutting corners. About 79% of the customers surveyed listed issues such as flight delays, poor in-flight service and harassment, boarding, baggage handling and check-in procedures as their main grievances.

Several flyers are taking to social media to flag off instances of poor customer service by various airlines in the country. A case in point is the recent furore over IndiGo Airlines’ refusal to allow a child with special needs to board a Hyderabad-bound flight at Ranchi airport.

The survey also records the highest number of customer complaints against SpiceJet, with 28% of the respondents deeming the airline’s customer service unsatisfactory. It is followed by IndiGo, which has been named by 18% of the respondents, and Air India, which accounts for 14% of the vote. Around 25% of those surveyed did not single out a specific carrier for poor service.

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In response to the question on issues affecting passengers, 41% claim that flight delays are their biggest grievance; 37% state that in-flight services such as meals and entertainment are a key issue, while 28% blame poor aircraft maintenance of seats and entertainment systems. Others complain of improper staff behaviour at airports and onboard, in addition to complaints of lack of timely information and announcements, baggage handling, and boarding and check-in procedures.

The survey saw responses from 15,000 airline passengers across 274 Indian districts.

Of these, 61% were men and 39% women. Around 49% were from metros and tier-I markets, 34% from tier-II markets and 17% from tier-III and IV markets and rural districts. The survey’s findings will be shared with the ministry of civil aviation and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to enable corrective policy and enforcement action.