{"id":36298,"date":"2026-09-07T08:27:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/supreme-court-to-hear-arbitrary-airline-airfare-hike-case-today\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T08:27:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:57:45","slug":"supreme-court-to-hear-arbitrary-airline-airfare-hike-case-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/supreme-court-to-hear-arbitrary-airline-airfare-hike-case-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court To Hear Arbitrary Airline Airfare Hike Case Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"The<\/picture><\/div>\n

The picture is of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the issue of arbitrary increases in airfares and extra charges imposed by private airlines. The case is listed before a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta.<\/p>\n

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The central government had said on August 17 that the new rules would be finalized within three weeks. During the hearing, the court had said, “Publish them within seven days. If the airlines are not complying, ground them.”<\/p>\n

The matter reached the Supreme Court in November last year, 2025, when a petition was filed regarding issues such as fare hikes and hidden charges.<\/p>\n

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Petition raises 4 issues, including baggage and additional charges<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The petition was filed last November by social activist S. Lakshminarayanan. He has called for the establishment of a strong and independent regulatory authority to ensure transparency and passenger safety across the civil aviation sector.<\/p>\n

The petition also seeks guidelines to regulate fluctuations in airfares and additional charges imposed by private airlines in India.<\/p>\n

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  • All private airlines have reduced the free check-in baggage limit for economy-class passengers from 25 kg to 15 kg. This facility was previously included in the ticket, but it has now been turned into a new source of revenue.<\/li>\n
  • There is now a new policy allowing only one bag for check-in, and no discount or benefit is provided to passengers who do not use the check-in baggage allowance.<\/li>\n
  • Currently, no authority has the power to review airfares or extra charges or set an upper limit on them. This gives airlines an opportunity to exploit consumers through hidden charges and unpredictable pricing.<\/li>\n
  • The airlines’ unregulated conduct manifests itself in arbitrary fare increases, reduced services, and failure to resolve complaints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Understand the entire matter through 5 questions and answers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    1. Question: Why do air tickets become expensive during festivals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer:<\/strong> The main reason is dynamic pricing. When demand increases, cheaper seats are sold quickly, and the remaining seats move into more expensive categories.<\/p>\n

    2. Question: Can airlines increase fares arbitrarily?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer: <\/strong>Airlines change fares based on demand and the availability of seats. Under the current system, the government generally does not set a maximum fare for every ticket. This system has been questioned in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

    3. Question: Can airlines increase fares arbitrarily?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer:<\/strong> On regular market-based flights, fares change based on demand and availability. However, airlines must comply with applicable regulations. The DGCA monitors fares. Under certain government schemes, such as UDAN, maximum fares are fixed.<\/p>\n

    4. Question: Why do different passengers pay different fares on the same flight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer: <\/strong>Seats are available in different fare categories. Therefore, passengers booking at different times may pay different fares on the same flight.<\/p>\n

    5. Question: What charges may apply in addition to the ticket price?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer: <\/strong>Additional charges may apply for excess baggage, preferred seats, meals, and certain other optional services. Applicable charges may also be levied for changing or canceling a ticket. The amount and terms depend on the airline.<\/p>\n

    Major Previous Hearings in the Supreme Court on Airfares<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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    • February 2026 – Supreme Court tough on airlines increasing airfares during festivals: Seeks response from Centre within 4 weeks: <\/strong>The Supreme Court expressed concern over private airlines increasing airfares during festivals and emergencies. The court said this was a matter of serious concern. Otherwise, we would not have considered the 32 petitions.Additional Solicitor General Anil Kaushik told the court that the matter concerns the interests of the general public. The government and the concerned departments are examining it at the highest level.<\/li>\n
    • May 2026 – Supreme Court asks: Why do two airlines charge different fares? One airline charges \u20b98,000, while another charges \u20b918,000:<\/strong> On the same day and on the same route, one airline charges a different airfare, while another airline charges a different fare. This should be corrected.The central government should provide relief to passengers. The petitioner told the bench that airfares can increase by up to 300%. The bench jokingly remarked that lawyers’ fees also sometimes increase by up to 400%\u2014what can be done about that?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The picture is of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the issue of arbitrary increases in airfares and extra charges imposed by private airlines. The case is listed before a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta. The central government had said on August 17 that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33529,27566,33531,22007,28698,29107,33530,21040],"class_list":["post-36298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-airfare-hike","tag-airline-controversy","tag-airline-ticket-prices","tag-aviation-news","tag-india-aviation","tag-justice-vikram-nath","tag-private-airlines","tag-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}