Flyers faced a double blow as air fares on Air India flights out of Delhi and those of SpiceJet soared past Rs 1 lakh one-way on some routes, and even those showed 'sold out' despite the airlines adding capacity.
Instances of torment emerged of flyers stranded in airports and those planning to fly on Friday and Saturday making emergency alternative arrangements, after IndiGo cancelled all domestic flights from Delhi and a large chunk from other airports including Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Flyers faced a double blow as air fares on Air India flights out of Delhi and those of SpiceJet soared past Rs 1 lakh one-way on some routes, and even those showed 'sold out' despite the airlines adding capacity.
Disruption spread well beyond Delhi. As against more than 220 IndiGo flights cancelled in the capital, it was over 100 in Bengaluru and nearly 90 in Hyderabad.
"My 12-year-old daughter's winter leave begins tomorrow (Saturday). She's in Welham Girls School, Dehradun, but we can't get to her before late night tomorrow because the Lucknow-Delhi-Dehradun flight was cancelled and now we're going by road, which will be a 14-hour journey," said Nidhi Yadav, a Prayagraj resident who got a message from IndiGo about her flight being cancelled while she was on her way to Lucknow airport.
"I can't imagine what would be the scene inside the airport. I don't even know if our return flights will be operational. The government should intervene in this," she added.
Aditya Chheda, a 21-year-old VIT Vellore graduate, had to face an 18-hour ordeal at Chennai airport before he could board his flight to Mumbai.
"My flight was delayed multiple times from 10.30 pm on December 4 to finally 11 am today (December 5). People were sleeping on the floor, there was chaos at every gate, people trying to reschedule flights," he said.
For a 29-year-old Delhi-based lawyer who flew to Prayagraj for a legal representation on December 4, flying back home is proving to be tough.
"IndiGo is the only flight on the Delhi-Prayagraj route and the only other options are to either drive to Varanasi or Lucknow and fly to Delhi from there, but operators like Air India are charging up to Rs 80,000 on these routes now," she said, adding that options like overnight buses or intercity cabs did not feel like safe options.
"Getting a reservation in trains is proving to be tough. This is a nightmare because I have to constantly keep checking for updates on flight schedules, cancellations, etc," she said.
Northern Railways increased the number of coaches across multiple trains, but train service from Delhi to Mumbai showed no seats available through Sunday (December 7).
From Monday, passengers can only attempt booking under the Tatkal quota, where availability depends on last-minute cancellations. Trains till next Saturday show no confirmed seats available.
Travellers were left dealing with making alternative arrangements or paying high fares on other flights.
An Air India one-stop flight from Delhi to Bengaluru for Friday night was priced at Rs 1.02 lakh while Akasa Air quoted around Rs 39,000 on the same route.
Delhi-Mumbai seats on Air India were selling at Rs 60,000 while Chennai-Delhi tickets on Air India Express climbed to Rs 41,000, and SpiceJet quoted Rs 69,000 on the same route.
Later in the day, SpiceJet announced new flights from Delhi and Mumbai to absorb stranded passengers, but prices remained elevated.
According to the airline's web site, its 11:05 pm and 11:10 pm flights from Mumbai to Delhi were listed at Rs 40,599 and Rs 34,299 one-way. Regular fares on this corridor typically range between Rs 4,000 and Rs 7,000.
A leading travel aggregator player said spot bookings for alternative airlines like Air India Express, Air India and SpiceJet had gone up after flight cancellations were announced.
The most affected routes, said the platform, are Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Delhi, and Bengaluru-Delhi.
For shorter-distance destinations like Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh, people are choosing to take their cars or hire cabs.
Prices appear to remain high over the weekend as well. On Saturday (December 6), a Delhi-Bengaluru SpiceJet connection with a halt at Mumbai was priced at Rs 88,460 while Air India listed Rs 40,280 for the same route.
On the Delhi-Mumbai route, SpiceJet showed fares at Rs 48,972 for an evening flight, while Air India's rates spanned from Rs 25,161 to Rs 93,400, depending on the booking class.
Akasa Air's web site displayed 'sold-out seats' for Saturday flights. However, for Sunday, Delhi-Bengaluru was priced at Rs 48,500 and Delhi-Mumbai at Rs 29,300.
The scale of pricing anomalies domestically became stark when compared to international routes.
An Air India flight from Delhi to Dubai on Saturday was listed at around Rs 42,000, while the cheapest SpiceJet option on the same day cost roughly Rs 39,718.
Both were lower or equal to many one-way fares charged on key domestic routes.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
© 2025