Flyers prefer social media over official sites to vent anger

The trend of air passengers lodging complaints on social media is on the rise these days; thanks to the airlines often extending a helping hand to the passengers. According to a member of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), around 600 to 900 complaints are registered every month with the civil aviation regulator via email.

Flight problems and delays top the list of grievances, with almost 25 to 30 per cent of the complaints being registered every month pertaining to these issues. Mishandling of baggage stands second with 18 to 25 per cent of all complaints. Other issues that irk passengers are poor customer service, food or staff behaviour and a lack of refund options.

An official from national carrier Air India told The Asian Age that the airline receives some complaint or feedback on its Twitter account almost every day, while feedback through other mediums is lower in volume when compared to social media. He also said flyers use social networking sites more than the official mediums to register their complaints. This is because people get an immediate response when they lodge complaints on social media, he said.

For example, a woman who was asked to remove her prosthetic legs during security checking at Mumbai airport earlier this year grabbed media attention after tweeting about the incident.