15 times higher fees? Union Minister orders probe into Agoda over 'excessive' cancellations

New Delhi: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi announced on Saturday that he has instructed regulatory bodies to investigate allegations of excessive cancellation fees being levied against consumers by Agoda and other digital ticket reservation platforms.

Writing on the social media network X, the minister indicated that the official inquiry will evaluate whether these electronic booking channels are enforcing cancellation penalties that exceed airline tariffs or surpass the fee structures disclosed to passengers during the initial transaction process.

Joshi noted that administrative directives have been issued to scrutinise the corporate practices of additional web-based reservation agencies operating within the domestic market.

“I have directed the Department of Consumer Affairs and CCPA to investigate whether online ticket booking platforms are imposing excessive cancellation charges on consumers, beyond what is charged by airlines or disclosed at the time of booking,” Joshi said.

The minister asserted that such commercial procedures erode operational transparency and compromise civic confidence. He warned that if these actions are determined to be inequitable or infringing upon consumer protections, they could be classified as unfair trade practices under the statutory provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Furthermore, Joshi stated that the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will execute necessary legal interventions, including class-action measures when warranted, to defend public interests and guarantee equitable treatment for all consumers.

Discrepancy Triggers Federal Investigation

The federal intervention was initiated after the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) utilised social media to highlight a stark disparity between the cancellation assessments applied by a digital travel intermediary and those established by the operating airline.

In his online publication, the BJYM official explained that he had reserved an Akasa Air flight through the Agoda platform, inadvertently choosing Navi Mumbai as his destination rather than Mumbai.

According to the post, when the official attempted to void the transaction, the third-party platform calculated a cancellation penalty of 4,764 rupees while authorising a refund of only 1,571 rupees. However, a direct cross-reference with the official Akasa Air digital portal revealed an internal cancellation deduction of just 299 rupees and an expected reimbursement of 6,076 rupees.

The political leader further claimed that Akasa Air customer service representatives confirmed the carrier's baseline cancellation fee was restricted to 299 rupees. The airline representatives advised that the financial reimbursement would be routed back through Agoda because the original transaction had been processed by the agency.

Challenging the massive statistical variance, the official alleged that the booking platform was demanding nearly 15 times the carrier's verified cancellation tariff, and he demanded rigorous transparency from third-party travel intermediaries.

With inputs from IANS