Fare cap too late for many passengers, fails to rein in high air ticket prices
Times of India | 7 December 2025
Kolkata: The fare cap announced by the civil aviation minister on Saturday, three days after thousands of passengers paid exorbitant amounts to purchase a ticket following IndiGo's cancellation of hundreds of flights, is too little and too late, said flyers and travel agents.
At 7.30 pm on Saturday, hours after the minister's announcement, fares continued to remain way over the capped amount. While the minister's announcement capped the highest fare at Rs 18,000, exclusive of applicable UDF, PSF, and taxes for sectors over 1,000 km, fares to Mumbai from Kolkata on Sunday were Rs 40,000 on SpiceJet, while on Monday, they were Rs 32,000 on Akasa Air and Rs 40,000 on SpiceJet.
It wasn't just on one sector. On sectors where travel is between 1,000 km and 1,500 km, the cap was set at Rs 15,000, exclusive of applicable UDF, PSF, and taxes. But fares to Delhi on Sunday were Rs 28,000 on Akasa Air and Rs 26,000 on Air India Express. On Monday, Air India had fares of Rs 23,000 and Rs 25,000, while Akasa Air was Rs 28,000 and SpiceJet Rs 32,000 and Rs 39,000.
"The minister may have announced a fare cap, but we cannot see its reflection yet. Even otherwise, the capped fare is extremely high given that till a year ago, the highest fare on economy class used to be Rs 18,000. The govt should have calculated the average of the last three years' fare to arrive at the capping," felt Travel Agents Association of India Chairman (East) Anjani Dhanuka.
Indian Association of Tour Operators functionary Debjit Dutta also called on the govt to enforce the capping so that it does not turn into a farce.
Prakash Jain, a youth from Mumbai, who arrived from Guangzhou in China, learnt that his connecting flight to Mumbai was cancelled. IndiGo did not book him on another flight and instead said it would process the refund. "When I looked for a fresh ticket, I saw prices of Rs 60,000-70,000. That is insane. I am stranded here," he said.
Similarly, Pune resident Ayush Kumar, who went to Vietnam on an office trip with his boss, returned to Kolkata on the IndiGo flight from Ho Chi Minh City. Since that flight was 3.5 hours late, he missed the Kolkata-Pune flight. On pointing out that he needed to be rebooked on a subsequent flight, the airline staff pleaded helplessness. The two finally purchased two Air India tickets at Rs 40,000 each.
In a letter to DGCA, the Travel Agents Federation of India's Abbaz Moiz pointed out that a traveller in India is made to pay cancellation fees, whether the ticket was purchased a year earlier or a day earlier. Yet, if a flight is cancelled or delayed, the traveller is typically entitled only to a refund of the ticket price.