February 13, 2024, New Delhi: In January 2024, chaos was witnessed at several major airports across India after many flights were cancelled or delayed by Indigo, Air India, Vistara among others. With no prior intimation or timely updates, harassed passengers stranded for long hours at various airports including Delhi, Lucknow, Kozhikode, etc., shared their tales of woes on social media. Are these problems arising due to weather, technical glitches and unprofessional behavior of airlines and airport staff or are a combination of factors responsible for undue harassment being faced by fliers? Defending the airlines in Parliament, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “If one sees the data of cancellations in our country, due to weather it is 0.3% this year. Commercial and operational is 0.2%. And technical it is 0.2%… Even if you take all three reasons for cancellations together, it comes to 0.7% of our total air traffic movements in civil aviation across the country.” While the fleet size of commercial airlines has doubled in the last 10 years and the number of air traffic movements per week has grown by 22% in the last two years, the minister stated.
Sadly the growth of fleet or air traffic is not reflected in the quality of services provided to fliers. Instead, tales about delayed flights, rude staff behavior, misplaced baggage, damaged baggage, torn seats, etc., seem to have become frequent. Gone are the days when fliers would accept bad travel experience. With globalization, the concept of service quality has gained importance in recent years. This applies more so to the transport and hospitality services provided by the airline industry which attracts more attention given its significance to several critical sectors like travel and tourism.
Customer Services mainly depend on two closely related things: quality of service expected and quality of service experienced. The expectation of service quality by the customer, his/her service perception and the quality delivered by different airline service providers may vary. At the current juncture when problems related to operations and cost escalation have changed the focus of airliners from customer service quality, or even giving the best flying experience, customers’ dissatisfaction often sees fliers switch from one airliner to another airliner which can meet price criteria as also give good travel experience and service quality, which is the best yardstick for measuring customer expectations and perceptions. For instance according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) punctuality of airlines is a worrying issue.
The consumer affairs ministry had summoned all major airlines for a meeting in November 2023 following a spike in complaints registered by customers, from unpaid refunds to lack of services, on the national consumer helpline. Data from the helpline showed that over 10,000 complaints were made over last one year against airlines for a variety of reasons. A majority or 40.8% of the grievances had to do with fares not being refunded after travel bookings had been cancelled. About 14%, were about deficiency or lack of promised services, the data showed. Another 14% were of passengers who complained about delayed or no compensation made for lost or damaged baggage. About 5% of the issues raised in the helpline related to lack of information on rescheduled or cancelled flights, which caused substantial monetary losses, according to the allegations made by passengers.
To look beyond the delays in January due to fog and better understand the key issues faced by fliers with different domestic airlines in 2023, LocalCircles conducted a national survey. The survey or report card of airlines received over 47,000 responses from airline fliers located in 302 districts of India. 66% respondents were men while 34% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 30% from tier 2 and 24% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
Timeliness, quality & maintenance of aircraft are top issues majority of Air India and Vistara fliers have indicated
The survey first focused on the two airlines associated with the Tata Group to understand the key issues they experienced with Vistara and Air India. It asked them, “What are some of the issues you have experienced when flying Vistara or Air India in the last 3 years?” Some among the 11,647 respondents to this query indicated more than one option. The highest or 69% indicated issue of timeliness; 55% indicated problem with quality and maintenance of aircraft; 38% indicated staff attitude and courteousness; 38% had complaints about baggage handling; 38% had issues with quality of food served on board; 38% indicated issues with information, timeliness and transparency; 24% had issues with customer service; 24% indicated entertainment systems were inadequate. In all, timeliness, quality & maintenance of aircraft are top issues the majority of Air India and Vistara fliers have. Community feedback indicates that both the top issues are much more frequently cited with Air India as compared to Vistara.
Staff attitude and lack of courteousness besides timeliness are major issues Indigo fliers have reported
Despite Indigo enjoying over 50% market share among domestic airlines, hundreds of posts and comments have come from fliers citing issues experienced with Indigo. In that context, the survey asked them, “What are some of the issues you have experienced when flying Indigo in the last 3 years?” The findings reveal quite a number of fliers have had issues with staff attitude and lack of courteousness. Some among the 12,030 respondents indicated more than one issue. The data shows that while 46% of fliers surveyed indicated problem with staff attitude and courteousness; 33% have issues with timeliness of the market leader; 27% baggage handling; 27% were critical of information timeliness and transparency; 23% have complaints about food quality served on board; 23% customer service; 19% raised the issue of quality and maintenance of aircraft; 13% entertainment systems; and 13% have had other issues not listed above.
Timeliness of flights, information transparency and timely updates are top issues the majority of Spicejet fliers have with the airline
Focusing next on Spicejet, the survey asked fliers who have used the airline “What are some of the issues you have experienced” in the last 3 years. Some among the 11,850 respondents indicated more than one problem, the biggest group of 59% indicated timeliness, followed by 48% indicating issues with information timeliness and transparency. Among other problems 41% indicated poor baggage handling; 33% quality and maintenance of aircraft; 26% had complaints about food quality served on board; 15% had issues with staff attitude and courteousness; 15% had poor customer service experiences; 15% had an issue with the entertainment systems and 15% has other issues apart from those mentioned above. Thus timeliness of flights, information transparency and timely updates are top issues the majority of Spicejet fliers have with the airline.
Customer service and timeliness are top issues majority of Akasa fliers have with the young airline
The last survey question focused on Akasa Air, the newest airline in India and sought to know fliers experience of travelling with the low cost-airline. Some among the 11,714 respondents to this query indicated more than one issue with 75%, the largest group, sharing that customer service is not up to mark. Among other issues with Akasa Air, 50% of respondents indicated timeliness; 25% staff attitude and courteousness; 25% quality and maintenance of aircraft; 25% baggage handling; 25% had complaints about information timeliness and transparency and 50% of respondents have had other issues not mentioned above. In total, customer service and timeliness are top issues the majority of Akasa fliers have with the young airline. Akasa has been one airline that struggled with its pilots in 2023.
In summary, it is unfortunate that there is growing perception amongst the fliers that the airlines are taking them for granted and rendering services which are below expectations. While many of the issues persist on a regular basis, they come to the fore with triggers like fog in North India last month. Some of these issues can be corrected if the regulator DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation does policy interventions like having a passenger charter and create awareness about the same and enforces strongly when violations by airlines take place. The survey found that each one of the airlines have their weaknesses according to fliers that need correction. It finds that while Air India and Vistara need to do better on timeliness and aircraft maintenance/upkeep, Indigo needs to put in special efforts in improving staff attitude and courteousness. Spicejet on the other hand needs to not only work on timeliness but also information timeliness and transparency along with baggage handling. Similarly, Akasa the new entrant has been rated poorly on customer service with 75% of the fliers surveyed having an issue.
The need of the hour here is for both the regulator, DGCA and the airlines to utilize these collective flier inputs and drive necessary sectoral level and airline level interventions. There is an urgent need to increase focus on improving the flier experience after the safety focus which is paramount for the sector.
