Stranded passengers complain of being fleeced by Air India

Mumbai, Feb 1 (PTI) Stranded passengers returning home
from crisis-hit Egypt on Tuesday complained that National
air-carrier Air India charged hefty amounts for a one-way
ticket to Mumbai but the state -owned airline justified fares
as high as Rs 45,000 claiming it only "recovered costs".
The one-way flight from Cairo to Mumbai cost the
passengers between Rs 45,000 and Rs 55,000 as stranded fliers
alleged that they had to shell out almost more than double the
cost of a single ticket for the sector.
"The airline has charged fares as high as USD 980 (Rs
43,000). No doubt they have done a good job by rescuing us
from the chaos in Cairo, but charging such exorbitant fares in
such a situation is not at all justified," said Vineet Ahuja,
who landed at the Mumbai international airport this morning.
In the wake of complaints that passengers were charged
exorbitantly, the airline said the special flights were not
designated by the government as 'evacuation flights' where the
cost could have been nominal or even free.
Air India clarified that the airline only recovered
costs and did not make "huge profits" as alleged by some
passengers.
"Air India would like to clarify that it only
recovered costs and not made any "huge profits" as alleged/
propagated in some quarters. The exercise, initiated on the
Government's advice, was aimed to assist stranded Indian
passengers in Egypt," an Air India spokesperson said in a
statement in Mumbai.
The national carrier has always positively responded
to such emergencies, the spokesperson said, adding that to
make the Cairo operation a success, AI had to withdraw one of
its aircraft between Mumbai and Cochin and reschedule its
flights to Dammam and Jeddah.
"Considering the ground realities and taking a humane
view, Air India also ferried passengers who "gave an
undertaking to pay the air-fare" on their arrival in India,"
the spokesperson added.
Asked why such high fares were being charged by Air
India from Indians stranded at Cairo for the special flights,
airline sources said the two flights which brought back over
550 passengers were operated on commercial basis and "not as
evacuation flights" where the cost of air travel could either
have been entirely free or nominal.
Air India could operate one more special flight to
Cairo soon, official sources told PTI.
The sources said these flights "could not be termed as
'evacuation' flight as that would have had a different
connotation in the diplomatic parlance regarding the situation
there".
"These were purely commercial flights. Moreover, since
we do not operate to Cairo, we had to fly in our commercial
staff from Mumbai to make arrangements to airlift these
stranded Indians," the sources said, adding an empty aircraft
had to be flown in from Mumbai to ferry these passengers by
pulling out the plane from scheduled service.