Sky-high fares and mass cancellations leave Vizag flyers stranded

Chaos gripped air travellers on Sunday as IndiGo scrapped ten flights and charged steep fares on remaining services, leaving passengers stranded and paying several times the usual price to reach their destinations.

In Visakhapatnam, frustration grew after passengers learnt that flights shown as operating were later cancelled. K Sravan, who was to return from Bengaluru, said he received the cancellation message hours before departure. He was forced to book an Air India ticket for ₹15,000. His daughter-in-law said fares spiked the moment IndiGo cancelled the service.

Another traveller, Vaishnavi from Hyderabad, chose to avoid further disruption after receiving a cancellation alert for her Coimbatore–Hyderabad flight. She hired a car to Bengaluru and continued by road, while IndiGo assured her a refund within three days.

IndiGo operated services to Chennai, Delhi, Vijayawada, Abu Dhabi, Bhubaneswar, Tirupati, Raipur, and Hyderabad on Sunday. However, flights to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata were among those cancelled.

According to K. Vijay Mohan, president of the Tours and Travels Association of Andhra, fares between New Delhi and Visakhapatnam on December 6 ranged from Rs 73,716 to Rs 1,00,682. Tickets from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam were between Rs 10,468 and Rs 33,769, while Chennai–Visakhapatnam fares touched Rs 49,033.

He noted that a New Delhi–Visakhapatnam ticket that normally costs Rs 10,000 went up to Rs 19,800 on December 7 and Rs 27,000 on December 8. A Chennai–Visakhapatnam fare that typically costs Rs 8,000 was around Rs 20,000.

Mohan urged urgent government action to safeguard passengers by enforcing full refunds, allowing penalty-free rebooking and arranging accommodation for those stranded due to cancellations.