Air Asia — airasia india call centre misleading customer to extort money

Sep 16, 2017

Updated by rsinfonet I was going through the rules and regulations for flight change which are given below with my comments on that

if a lower fare is available, the difference in fares will not be refunded to the passenger; - NOT COMMUNICATED BY CALL CENTRE EXECUTIVE. INSTEAD SHE SAID FARE MAY GO DOWN OR UP DEPENDING ON OFFER.

if the new flight booked is in a higher fare class than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares shall be paid by the passenger before the cancellation or change can be made - FARE CLASS WAS NOT CHANGED INSTEAD ABNORMAL CHARGE THAT IS NEARLY DOUBLE THE BOOKING FARE MAKING TOTAL FARE AROUND 50, 000 INR CHARGED WITH FALSE INTERPRETATION. WHILE I WAS SELECTING THE CHANGED DATE ONLINE THERE WAS ONLY AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF RS.4500 MAKING THE TOTAL FARE TO SOMETHING AROUND 32000 INR. HOWEVER PAYMENT IS NOT MADE

the change is not confirmed until we issue you a new Itinerary and/or booking number - AS PER THIS STATEMENT THE STATUS OF MY FLIGHT WILL BE AS PER THE ORIGINAL ITENARY BECAUSE CHANGES WILL BE CONFIRMED ONLY AFTER PAYMENT AND ADDITIONAL PAYMENT IS NOT DONE FOR THE CHANGE MADE BY CALL CENTER EXECUTIVE BY FALSE INTERPRETATION.

changes on route(s) are not allowed. NOT APPLICABLE.

Sep 16, 2017

Updated by rsinfonet CAS[protected]WBWPYB

Dear Sir,
I was totally misguided by your call center representative. I called one of your representative to ask if we can change the date of our return flight - AK1020 at 9.30 P.M on[protected]. She asked me the date of my return and I told her[protected]. and she offered me prices for my three bookings details of which are given below. I asked her how come the Price is becoming lower on changing the Date and she replied that Price may go down or up depending on offer. I was given an impression that on changing the dates my total booking Price for the returning tickets were lower than that what we have Purchased. When two of my bookings have already been changed she offered an extremely low Price for my last booking and so I hesitated and kindly asked her to recheck and confirm. She told me the same price and I confirmed the same. I then asked her whether the Price will be reflected in my Account and she said yes but to my surprise I found that the Total Amount told by her was additionally charged over my current booking Price.She never mentioned about any additional charges above my current booking. Also the additional amount was double the amount of my cuurent booking value. It was totally misinterpretation from your call center executive. I immediately reacted without delay and told her to revert back but she replied that it is not possible from her end needs to informed at higher level.

Today I went to your Kolkata Center and came to know that the name of your call center executive is Priya. You may go through the call recordings where you will find that the Total Fare Price was never communicated even after asking how is the Price getting lower by me instead it has been communicated that Price may go up or down due to offers.Never in the conversation it has been uttered that this is an additional amount charged over the current booking.

Some of the Points that I would like to mention are

1. Return Ticket from Johar Bahru to Kolkata on[protected] as of today is 229 MYR. So for 4 person it is 916 MYR = 13955.42 INR which I have already checked prior to talking with your Call Center Executive. So the question for altering the dates by paying additional amount of Rs.23, 380 doesn't arise at all unless the Total Fare Value is Rs.23, 380 due to which I told for further Proceeding.It raises some doubts and I repeatedly asked how come the fare is getting lower. She never uttered a word that this was additional amount charged over the current booking value.Same with the other two bookings.

2. If we consider two options below as of today (13/09/2017)

a) Price of New Return Ticket online from Johar Bahru to Kolkata on[protected] for 4 person as of today = 13955.42 INR
b) Price for changing the Date of Return Ticket as done by your call center executive from[protected] to[protected] for 4 person = 23, 380 INR

Any normal person will choose option a, until and unless option b is the total Fare for Return Ticket after change of date.No one will pay additional Rs.10, 000/- approx for booking the same flight on the same day.So the question of Proceeding further will not have arise if it was clearly communicated that this is an additional amount above the earlier Total Fare amount.

3. I never booked flight tickets over telephone through any call center. I am quiet tech savvy and has been in the IT field for the Last 20 years. Till date I booked other flights online.Prior to calling at your call center. I also checked that the Total Fare amount on changing the date from 27-01-18 to 29-01-18 online was showing something around 32, 000/- (4 person) whereas our current booking is of Rs.27716 (4 person). So I didn't make any change at that time even there the increase is marginal. It is only during the conversation when your representative told that the Fare Price is Rs.23, 380 I asked her how the Price is becoming low. She replied Price may go up or down depending on offer. I believed it to be the Total Fare Amount as the online price difference was Rs.4500 max for the entire fare for 4 person. I never expected that price difference will vary to such great extent while viewing online and with call center which also makes me believe that Rs.23, 380 is the Total Fare Price as put up by the call center executive.

4. There must be a provision at least within some time frame to revert back such situations through your online Portal or with your call center as misunderstanding/mistakes may happen while booking through call center and during booking call centers should convey the Final Total Fare Price before finalizing. In this scenario in the same call I told your call center executive to revert back immediately once I found an enormous additional amount of Rs.23, 380 charged over my current booking amount.

FLIGHT - AK 1020

Booking No - QDV9VR

Similar are the cases for other two bookings which are simultaneously done.

Booking No - VKUI3J
- RNJ1KD

Sir I strongly believe that you shall make an arrangement to revert back to my original bookings since the flight schedule is after 4 months nearly.

Regards,
Pradipto

POINTS TO BE NOTED
I was going through the rules and regulations for flight change which are given below with my comments on that

• if a lower fare is available, the difference in fares will not be refunded to the passenger; - NOT COMMUNICATED BY CALL CENTRE EXECUTIVE. INSTEAD SHE SAID FARE MAY GO DOWN OR UP DEPENDING ON OFFER.
•
• if the new flight booked is in a higher fare class than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares shall be paid by the passenger before the cancellation or change can be made - FARE CLASS WAS NOT CHANGED INSTEAD ABNORMAL CHARGE THAT IS NEARLY DOUBLE THE BOOKING FARE MAKING TOTAL FARE AROUND 50, 000 INR CHARGED WITH FALSE INTERPRETATION. WHILE I WAS SELECTING THE CHANGED DATE ONLINE THERE WAS ONLY AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF RS.4500 MAKING THE TOTAL FARE TO SOMETHING AROUND 32000 INR. HOWEVER PAYMENT IS NOT MADE
•
• the change is not confirmed until we issue you a new Itinerary and/or booking number - AS PER THIS STATEMENT THE STATUS OF MY FLIGHT WILL BE AS PER THE ORIGINAL ITENARY BECAUSE CHANGES WILL BE CONFIRMED ONLY AFTER PAYMENT AND ADDITIONAL PAYMENT IS NOT DONE FOR THE CHANGE MADE BY CALL CENTER EXECUTIVE BY FALSE INTERPRETATION.
•
• changes on route(s) are not allowed. NOT APPLICABLE.