Air India has been directed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to stop the ‘companion free scheme’ which allowed a passenger buying a first or business class ticket or full fare economy class tickets to take along a companion for free.
On the Delhi-Mumbai sector a passenger purchasing a ticket 60 days before travel will be able to travel for about Rs 4,200 while a full fare economy ticket will be priced at Rs 25,000.
The decision to stop the scheme has been taken as several irregularities were unearthed during a recent probe at Delhi airport where 332 CFS tickets had been issued at irregularities were found in 196 tickets
The investigation revealed that the main tickets were cancelled after issuance or use of CFS tickets. Besides in the case of domestic CFS tickets the accompanying passenger should be spouse, child or parent – a stipulation was not been followed.
In a statement the Ministry of Civil Aviation said irregularities were also detected in the CFS tickets issued at Chandigarh where 435 tickets were scrutinised.