The Union Civil Aviation Ministry has initiated a first-of-its-kind drive by directly reaching out to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) to control volatility in air fares during the ongoing festive season, sources told businessline.

At present, nearly 80 per cent of all air ticket bookings in India are bought through OTAs.

Accordingly, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) convened a meeting with OTAs to advise them to fix the online air ticket pricing mechanism.

Speaking with businessline, industry sources said that several issues were raised during discussions between ministry officials and representatives of OTAs, one of which was the ticket price appreciation on platforms due to the storage of search memory.

Pricing based on cache memory searches

The industry insider said that the ministry pointed out that pricing based on cache memory searches “needs to stop.” On a technical level, repeated searches of a flight, destinations, and prices are stored as cache memory. This memory allows the software systems of websites or mobile applications to determine demand and thereby adjust prices.

An official source told businessline that the ministry has advised OTAs to modify the websites’ algorithm so that the search results are not based on cache memory data. 

“We are keeping a very close watch on the day-to-day fluctuations in air fares,” official sources said.

As per official sources, other issues, such as the linking of prices on OTAs’ platforms and those on the airlines’ websites, were also raised during the meeting.

Besides, other concerns, such as error messages that lead to massive price increases, were cited to the OTAs.

Furthermore, the presence of hidden fees linked with reserving tickets that are not disclosed upfront but rather only at the time of payment was raised during the meeting.

According to aviation industry expert Mark D Martin, CEO of Martin Consulting, “This is a first-ever step taken by the Ministry to put OTAs on surveillance. It has been widely known that OTAs and airlines have been in collusion by creating fictitious demand for tickets.”

“With the ongoing holiday season, it becomes mandatory that travellers are charged the right fare based on the right supply and demand logic and not arbitrary or artificially inflated rates.”

Dark patterns

Last year, consumer protection surveys and groups raised another key issue of ‘dark patterns’ deployments on airlines’ websites. These patterns impact air fares. Flyers have often complained about ‘dark patterns’ such as forced action, drip pricing, false urgency, and basket sneaking. 

At that time, it was alleged that airlines as well as OTAs’ websites and applications use manipulative strategies, commonly called ‘dark patterns’, to trick users into paying higher fares or paying for add-ons and unplanned purchases during bookings.

Thereafter, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) convened a meeting with airlines and online booking portals’ officials and highlighted similar concerns regarding ‘dark patterns’ and instructed them to devise counter-strategies.

Notably, after deliberations with the industry, the Central Consumer Protection Authority issued a notification prohibiting 13 forms of dark patterns.

Related Topics