Excess baggage fee in domestic flights may see 300% hike

Agencies
August 18, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 18: Economy class passengers carrying more than 15kg check-in baggage on domestic flights may now have to pay almost thrice as much for the first five kilos.

Low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet is considering raising the Rs 500 pre-booking charge for carrying 20kg to Rs 1,425.

Hikes are also being contemplated for pre-booking in other weight bands beyond 20kg. Moreover, those checking-in more than 15kg without pre-booking may end up shelling out Rs 300 per kg.

"This is a proposal that we are considering. A final decision will be taken shortly," said a SpiceJet source. The new charges, if finalised, will be implemented from Friday itself. The move comes after the Delhi high court stuck down DGCA's order of Rs 100 per kg cap on excess baggage fee for the 15-20kg band on Wednesday. A senior DGCA official said, "We are studying the HC order to see the reasons why our order has been set aside. We will take legal opinion and then decide on whether to go in for an appeal against the HC order."

Other airlines are likely to follow suit. Only Air India said that economy class domestic flyers can check-in up to 25kg without a charge.

Even if airlines do not hike their existing charges, the impact on flyers checking-in 20kg can be significant if they implement the charge kept for beyond 20kg to beyond 15kg now. For instance, two low cost carriers (LCC) charge Rs 300 and Rs 350 per kg as excess baggage fee for domestic travel beyond the allowed limit. A full service airline charges Rs 500 per kg from economy passengers carrying beyond 20kg.

The higher charges used to start from over 20 kg due to the DGCA cap of Rs 100 on the 15-20 kg band. Now with that set aside, airlines are free to charge the higher fees they had for over 20 kg check-in baggage from over 15 kg itself now. No airline formally commented on what their policy for excess check-in baggage fees will be after Wednesday's HC order. "We are just waiting for someone to make the first move and then the rest will follow. Only AI can offer higher baggage limit as the airline is headed in a different direction (referring to impending sell off),"said an airline official.

AirAsia India, when launched in 2014, did not want to give any free check-in baggage to passengers and was directed by DGCA to allow 15 kg check-in baggage - like all other Indian carriers -to domestic flyers without any extra fee. 

"We welcome this change proposed by the Delhi High court on the excess baggage fees. We will however evaluate this internally and see how this can be beneficial to both the guests as well as the airline, as we continue our endeavor to make flying affordable for all,"AirAsia India said in a statement.

Comments

Wellwisher
 - 
Friday, 18 Aug 2017

All price hike to be with Indian Air Act Limoration. Air Lines has no right to hike any flight charge. Dear brothers please study about implemented by the Central Goverment.

 

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Agencies
February 23,2020

Rajghat, Feb 23: The maternal uncle of Dr Kafeel Khan, who was recently arrested for allegedly making inflammatory statements during anti-CAA protests, was shot dead in front of his house at Bankatichak in Rajghat area, police said on Sunday.

Dr Nusratullah Warsi aka Dada (55), a property dealer, was shot dead on Saturday night at about 10:45 pm and an FIR against two people was filed in this connection on a written complaint of his family members.

According to police, it appears to be a case of murder due to monetary and property dispute and they are searching for both the accused.

Dr Kafeel Khan, suspended doctor of Gorakhpur BRD Medical College, was last month arrested under charges of giving a provocative speech during a protest against the CAA and NRC at Aligarh Muslim University and was later charged with the National Security Act.

Warsi on Saturday evening had gone to his lawyer Siraj Tariq's house, a few metres away from his own house, and was returning home on foot when a man shot him in his head, killing him on the spot.

"On the written complaint of family members, case of murder against one Imammuddin and Anil Sonkar has been registered and police has initiated probe and is searching for both the accused. Police met the women in their house and is interrogating them," Circle Officer VP Singh said.

Prima facie it appears to be a case of property and money dispute, he said, adding, three teams have been constituted to investigate the case and soon the accused will be caught.

Dr Kafeel Khan had last month raised apprehension in a Mumbai court about being killed in an "encounter" by the Uttar Pradesh police after claiming that he had been "falsely" implicated in the case by them.

The paediatrician had come to the limelight in 2017 when a controversy broke out after the death of over 60 children in less than a week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, where he was posted.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Ahmedabad, Mar 15: Four Congress MLAs in Gujarat have tendered their resignation to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi ahead of the election to the four Rajya Sabha seats in the state to be held on March 26.

The four Congress legislators tendered their resignation on Saturday, which Trivedi has accepted.

Trivedi told this to PTI on Sunday.

He said he will announce the names of the legislators in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

"Four Congress MLAs tendered their resignation to me on Saturday, and I will announce their names in the Assembly tomorrow," he said.

With this, the strength of the Congress party in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly has come down to 69 from 73.

The Congress had on Saturday shifted its 14 MLAs to Jaipur fearing horse-trading by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.

The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin for the election.

Given its number in the Assembly, the ruling party can only win two seats unless it manages cross-voting from the opposition camp or ensures defection of Congress MLAs to win the third seat.

The Congress has fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.

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News Network
July 1,2020

Patna, July 1: A wedding ceremony in rural Patna a fortnight ago where the groom was running high fever, two days before he died and his body cremated without being tested for COVID 19, appears to have set off the biggest infection chain in Bihar so far, health department officials said on Tuesday.

More than 111 people have tested positive in Paliganj sub-division of Patna district, about 55 km from the state capital, in the last few days, out of over 350 who have been tested upon contact tracing, they said. Fifteen of his relatives who attended the wedding tested positive for the contagion and apparently infected others.

The officials, who requested anonymity, said the groom was a software engineer based in Gurugram and had returned home for his marriage in the last week of May. A few days after the ''tilak'' ceremony, he started showing symptoms of the disease.

On June 15, the date of wedding, he was running high fever and wanted the ceremony to be deferred, but relented upon the insistence of family members who made him swallow paracetamol tablets and go through the rituals.
On June 17, his condition deteriorated significantly and family members made a dash to AIIMS, Patna, but he died on the way.

The body was cremated in a huff, without the authorities being informed. But somebody telephoned the district magistrate and narrated the whole episode. All close relatives of the deceased, who attended the ceremony, were tested on June 19. Of them 15 tested positive, the officials said.

As a measure to contain the spread of the disease, a special camp was set up at the village where the marriage took place on June 24-26 during which samples of 364 people were collected. Of them, 86 tested positive, the officials added.

The sudden explosion of the dreaded coronavirus has triggered panic in the area. Although most who tested positive were asymptomatic, they have been admitted to isolation centres in Bihta and Phulwarisharif.

Block Development Officer Chiranjeev Pandey said Meetha Kuan, Khagari Mohalla and parts of Paliganj Bazaar have been sealed for thorough sanitisation.

Patna district happens to be the worst-affected in Bihar with 699 confirmed cases till date and five casualties, according to figures provided by the administration. The number of active cases is 372.

On Monday, when the state witnessed its biggest single day spike with 394 cases, Patna district accounted for more than 20 per cent of these. About eighty cases were reported from Paliganj alone.

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