Everyone in the country will agree with the criticism carried out by none other than the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself about one of the airlines offering defected seats to its passengers after charging full fare as he has to face the ordeal after the aforesaid airlines allegedly allotted him a broken and sunken seat. The minister has also claimed that the flight in which he was travelling from Bhopal to Delhi on Saturday was having several other seats in a similar condition.
As the discomfort of the minister during the aforesaid flight has received national and even international attention. The news report on the matter was released by one of the premier national news agencies and thereafter many newspapers and electronic media have done the needful of publishing the same. But what is to be seen is that the same flight and many others in the country offer similar unsatisfactory services to the fliers but the issue goes unnoticed with the concerned ministry or any other government agency meant to look after such matters remaining unmoved and unconcerned.
The aforesaid minister has rightly termed the practice of airlines charging the full fare from the passengers and then offering defective seats as unethical. This incident no doubt has kindled hope among many frequent fliers in the country that from now onwards they will get better services and proper seats in the flights because the issue has received wide publicity.
In this context, the Aviation Ministry should also take cognizance and come out with certain rules providing an opportunity to the affected commuters to get back a considerable amount as refund if any of such cases comes to fore in future. The Civil Aviation Ministry cannot sit over the matter as a mute spectator because if the airlines can put the central minister into such trouble, one can gauge well the ordeals of the common man, who somehow manages to get a ticket to reach his or her destination after travelling by air.
In the aforesaid case, the concerned airline has reportedly assured that it will try its best that such things should not repeat in the future. It is however imperative that the concerned ministry should ensure that no airlines deceive their customers by repeating such things.
