Another flyer looking for tickets from Kolkata to Pune faced the same situation. “The fares keep moving up and down frequently. At times, it is around Rs9000-Rs10,000. A few hours on, the same flight’s fare leaps to Rs16,000 to Rs18,000. The fare changes again after a few hours. Amid these fluctuations in fares, passengers like us are bound to be confused despite the govt’s fare cap for now,” he said.Bhosari’s Neelam Bhoyaar faced the same situation last week while booking a flight to Chennai. “I booked a ticket on a Chennai flight for Dec 21 for Rs 11,000. After a day or two, I saw its fare was Rs7,300. If there is a cap, why are fares fluctuating like this? What are IndiGo and other airlines trying to do amid this crisis? They should stop hassling passengers,” Bhoyaar said.Travel agents said they often got queries from clients on this issue. “The queries have increased after the IndiGo fiasco. Many clients themselves book tickets through the airlines’ websites or travel portals. If the fare for a destination goes up and down within a span of a few hours, they are bound to be hassled and worried,” a representative of a travel firm said.Nilesh Bhansali, the owner of Devam Tours and Travels and the president of Travel Agents Association of Pune (TAAP), gave an explanation. “Flight fares change as per bookings. If an airline spots high bookings for a flight, say Pune to Delhi, it tends to increase the fare and vice-versa. Airlines have AI tools to monitor the same and keep an eye on each other’s fares. They revise fares many times in a day depending on the trend. Flyers are hassled after the IndiGo fiasco. Many of them are still struggling for refunds. Against this backdrop, frequent fare fluctuations will further confuse and scare them,” he said.Frequent flyer Rajeev Maind, a businessman, said, “It seems the govt is not monitoring the caps closely at the moment. This shouldn’t happen and flyers shouldn’t be taken for a ride. We don’t want any rude surprises.”
