According to the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), the fare claimed in an Air-India ad did not match the actual fare
The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) has filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) against Air-India, claiming that an advertisement hoarding put up by the airline was misleading.
As per APAI, Air-India released an ad in October 2005, which claimed in its headline that the fare for Mumbai-New York-Los Angeles-Chicago was Rs 37,990 and that the fare for Mumbai-London-Paris-Frankfurt was Rs 18,990. In reality, APAI says, the fares were Rs 47,991 and Rs 26,045, respectively.
When contacted by agencyfaqs!, the ASCI secretariat said only that the matter was still under review and, as per the ASCI guidelines, he could not comment on it. However, the secretariat did reveal that in previous instances when an advertiser had claimed to offer a substantial discount in its ad and specified ‘conditions apply’ in fine print, the council had advised the advertiser to clarify the extent of the discounts as, otherwise, the advertisements would mislead the consumers.
Meanwhile, APAI claims that ASCI has already referred the complaint to the Consumer Complaint Council (CCC). In its meeting held on December 20, 2005, the CCC upheld that the complaint had contravened Chapter 1.4 of the ASCI code. The council concluded that the advertisement was ‘misleading by omission of critical conditions of additional payments involved’. ASCI has since advised Air-India to take corrective action and is awaiting a reply from the airline.
APAI president Sudhakara Reddy says, “Self-regulation in advertising by all airlines is a must to create a healthy impression in the minds of the people, especially at a time when the aviation industry is going through a trajectory phase.”
According to Reddy, passengers should take such cases seriously and bring them to the notice of the concerned authorities.
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