oppn parties Unfair Practice In Online Flight Ticket Booking Must Stop

News Snippets

  • Calcutta HC says Cricket Association of Bengal is not liable to pay tax on advertisement inisde Eden Gardens cricket ground as it is not a 'public place' because it does not have unrestricted access for the general public
  • Supreme Court admits a plea from a child of a single OBC mother who had applied for an OBC certificate for her son
  • Supreme Court approves applying strict preventive detention laws for 'cybercriminals'
  • SBI likely to shift part of operations of its Global Market Unit from Kolkata to Mumbai
  • FM nirmala Sitharaman calls for a "structured, process-driven approach to compliance" and asks top I-T officials to speed up refunds and simplify processes
  • Marine insurance costs surge as the oil corridor in Strait of Homruz becomes risky due to war
  • Stocks weaken on Monday on global cues: sensex sheds 511 points to 81896 and Nifty 140 points to 24971
  • Former left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi dies in London at 77. He played for India in 33 Test matches and for Bengal in domestic tournaments
  • Pant becomes the only keeper to score two centuries in the same Test in England
  • England Test: Rishabh Pant hits his second ton and KL Rahul a classy century to put India on top, England need 350 runs on the last day, with the ptich showing signs of wear and tear
  • DGCA orders an audit of the entire aviation ecosystem in the wake of recent snags in many flights after the AI Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad
  • 2 Pahalgam residents arrested by NIA for sheltering and aiding 3 terrorists who killed civilian tourists in pahalgam tell the agency that there were 3 LeT ultras from Pakistan that carried out the attack
  • India unlikely to agree to US demands for lower tariffs on agri products and GM food, trade deal faces fresh hurdles
  • Stocks likely to plummet today as traders will be worried about the effect of US strike on iran, oil price rise and possible inflation. Foreign funds may also withdraw in the volatile global situation
  • Oil prices likely to shoot up as US strikes at iran and the latter decides to close the Strait of Homruz
US President Donald Trump unilaterally announces a 'ceasefire' between Israel & Iran
oppn parties
Unfair Practice In Online Flight Ticket Booking Must Stop

By Ashwini Agarwal

If you have ever made a flight reservation on any of the travel websites, you must have encountered the unfair practice of these sites to pre-tick certain add-on boxes for you. In your hurry to book the ticket, you will more often than not overlook these small charges and end up paying much more for your ticket.

The main, costly and unnecessary box that is pre-ticked is the one for flight insurance. In a rush to book the ticket, I had once overlooked to untick it. My flight got delayed by over four hours. I lodged a claim with the insurance company asking for compensation. But they replied saying that it was payable only in case the flight was delayed by over 5 hours. Are flights usually delayed by that much? It is just a ploy to extract a premium from passengers without any reason. Then, there are several other boxes like making a donation for a cause etc. which are pre-ticked. This practice should stop immediately.

The whole point in having add-ons or extra facilities is providing the customer with a choice. But once the boxes are pre-ticked, the choice is taken away. Airlines or websites that facilitate ticket booking can list the facilities they provide but they cannot pre-tick any for the customer. It is upon the customer to tick the boxes for the facilities he wants to avail.

By pre-ticking the boxes, the airlines and the websites are indulging in an unfair practice. For those who are not aware and for those who are in a hurry, these pre-ticked boxes are a drain on their resources and unfairly inflate the price of tickets. The airlines and websites must voluntarily desist from doing so, failing which the government must step in to rectify the situation.