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| Airline companies make hay amid snowfall | | Increase fares, dump passengers midway, get away | | Fazal Khan
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Feb 4: The inclement weather leading to the closure of 300-km Srinagar-Jammu highway, only road link connecting Kashmir with rest of the country, proved to be a blessing in disguise for private airline carriers as these companies exploited the situation to hilt and left no stone unturned to earn huge profits amidst snowfall in the Valley.
During the past few days many Srinagar bound flights couldn't land here due to continuous rain and snowfall. Many passengers were left half way by these airline carriers and scores couldn't even board the flights thus leaving them exasperated at the airports itself.
Soon after the weatherman issued an advisory about possibility of Western Disturbance hitting JK the airfares from Srinagar to any destination and vice-versa skyrocketed. People who had to travel were left with no other option but to book their tickets at the exorbitant rates. An air travel from Srinagar-Jammu at present costs anything between Rs 5000/ to Rs 8000/.
Commuters during winter season prefer to travel by-air rather than road at least from Srinagar to Jammu to save themselves from the agony of getting stuck on the highway, which can close without any prior notice. Travelling by air is the "safest" possible option in winter season.
Air-fares witnessing a steep hike during winter in JK is nothing unusual, but cut throat competition among the various air carriers and these offering tickets at lower prices than the standard air-carriers like Air India and Jet Airways puts gullible passengers in a tight spot when the flights get cancelled. These airlines don't provide any accommodation to their clients and in case of cancellation asks passengers to wait for at least 48-hours for the next flight.
On Tuesday one such airline dumped the Srinagar bound passengers from Bangalore at Chandigarh airport as flights were not allowed to land at Srinagar airport due to poor visibility.
The airline company asked the passengers to disembark at Chandigarh airport and instructed them to reach Delhi on their own where they would be provided the flight on the next day. The other option which the company gave to its clients was that they should stay put in Chandigrah for 2-days and they would be accommodated in some other flight.
An executive of a private airline company while talking to Early Times said, "Our policy is very clear that we don't provide accommodation to our clients. We have to face tough time on many occasions as we have to tell the customers plainly that we cannot help them."
Asked why people have to pay huge amounts for travelling to Srinagar, especially in winter season, he said, "Our tickets are cheaper by few hundred rupees but we ensure to maintain our rate at par with standard carriers as winter is peak season for us and we know that people who can afford prefer air-travel during winter.
We face embarrassing situations sometime but the memory of the masses is short lived. They tend to forget what they underwent and always ask their travel agent to book the cheapest possible ticket." |
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