Opaque Fares: Kingfisher's scam to con travellers exposed?

New Delhi, Mar 28: Popular travel website,

removed cash-strapped Kingfisher airlines from its portal after it came to light that it was conning its travellers by running a 'opaque fare' scheme.

Kingfisher in a bid to woo more passengers to buy its tickets offered to sell its tickets below market prices on Makemytrip. The customers would come to know of the airline's identity only after booking the tickets.

"We have removed Kingfisher Airlines from opaque selling to avoid any customer-related issues. Opaque fares will continue with all other participating airlines. Once Kingfisher normalises its operations and more importantly its perception we will be happy to introduce them on opaque," makemytrip.com COO Keyur Joshi told the Economic Times.

The truth was unravelled by Jet Airways after it complained to the aviation regulator to look into the matter and bring the practice to a stop. Following the complaint, Jet airlines were also pulled out from Makemytrip's web portal.

When asked if the step was taken following Jet's threat, Joshi said, "This is on our own volition."

While 'opaque fare' is a trade practice followed by several airlines to sell their tickets, Kingfisher's attempt to cash on this mode while it is cancelling its series of flights is in a way deceiving its customers, as it has been calling off its flights without prior notices and also not refunding its customers for the same.

What is opaque fare?

It is a heavily discounted ticket with no flight number or details of the airlines and usable at the latter's prudence.

OneIndia News