JetKonnect overbooks, fliers fume

Dinesh Kanodia, a senior executive with a media company, advanced his journey to Mumbai after finishing meetings in Delhi on Saturday, thinking he would reach in time to attend a family function in the evening.

Kanodia reached Delhi airport well before time for the JetKonnect 7.10pm flight and was told that the flight’s departure would be delayed by about 20 minutes due to a technical glitch.

After a long wait, he and around 60 passengers were not allowed to board the aircraft. The reason: the airline was full. “The airline said fliers of 7.45pm flight had boarded the plane,” said Kanodia.

The airline pacified them, saying they would be accommodated in the 7.45pm flight.

But a little later, an airline official said there were only 50 seats available in that flight. “This angered the passengers, who created a ruckus,” Kanodia told dna.

Seeing this, a senior airline official announced that they would be accommodated in the 7.45pm flight. “We boarded the flight without any seat allotment. The flight took off around 8.15pm,” said Kanodia.

Passengers allege the airline overbooked seats which led to their inconvenience and that the airline did not have the courtesy to announce the delay. “My plan to spend time with my family was spoilt due to the airline’s irresponsible behaviour,” added Kanodia.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said: “JetKonnect flight S2 4107 from Delhi to Mumbai on Saturday returned to bay at 1740hrs following a technical snag. The snag persisted, leading to the grounding of the aircraft. There were 125 guests and crew on board. The guests were transferred to another aircraft as they did not want to disembark. The guests were upgraded and flown to their destination along with their baggage in a Jet Airways Boeing 737, a full-service flight around 8pm.”

The incident comes days after dna reported how Mumbai resident Arjun Singh was left stranded at the city airport. His two children and wife were flown to Rajkot but he was left behind allegedly due to overbooking of tickets. The airline claimed that Singh was late for the flight.

Aviation industry insiders said overbooking of tickets by airlines has been increasing, especially during the peak season and weekends. This allows the airlines to fly almost its full capacity, despite some passengers missing the flight or not showing up. The passengers left behind are then accommodated in another flight.

“On the pretext of snags, airlines are frequently cancelling flights which has fewer bookings and then clubbing them with other flights,” said Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers’ Association of India.

Iqbal Mulla, president of Travel Agents Association of India, agrees. “This is happening because there is no accountability of the airline due to lack of checks. The passengers have to bear the brunt.”

Legal experts term the practice legal as all issues have been settled in an order of the Maharashtra State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association representing over 240 airlines across the world, said overbooking is a commercial tool used by airlines for maximum seat utilisation.

“There is no international standard on the level of overbooking as this depends on the carrier’s commercial policy, market, profile of passengers and so on,” said Albert Tjoeng, assistant director, corporate communications, IATA.