Survey Reveals How Airlines are Selling Food, Water Bottles to Passengers at Higher MRP Than Markets

Around 72% air passengers surveyed complained of bottled water being sold onboard flights at a higher published MRP than the one in regular markets in the last 12 months, while 59% had a similar complaint about packaged food, a report by LocalCircles has revealed.

“LocalCircles, over the last 12 months has received hundreds of complaints from consumers where they have been charged a significantly higher price when buying packaged food or water onboard their flight. This is despite the government guidelines and orders by the national commission prohibiting identical pre-packaged products from having different MRPs at different locations,” the report said.

Around 23% respondents said that on more than 10 occasions in the last 12 months they had been sold packaged food on flights with a published MRP higher than the market MRP. Around 13% respondents said this had happened to them “5-10 times”, while 23% said they had to pay more than the market MRP on flights “3-4 times”. However, 18% of the respondents said they had “never” witnessed dual MRP while travelling by air and 23% gave no clear response, opting for “can’t say”.

“To sum up, 59% of fliers surveyed say airlines sold them packaged food with a published MRP higher than the MRP available in the market/stores,” the report said.

Similarly, 36% respondents said that on more than 10 occasions in the last 12 months, airlines sold them bottled water with a published MRP higher than the market rate. Around 14% suffered this experience “5 to 10 times”, while 22% said it happened to them “3-4 times”. Around 14% opted for the “once or twice” option, while 7% of the respondents said it had “never happened” to them. Close to 7% gave no clear response, opting for “can’t say”.

“To sum up, 72% of fliers surveyed say airlines sold bottles of water with a published MRP higher than the MRP available in the market/stores,” the LocalCircles report said.

“The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has long ruled that there cannot be two MRPs, except in accordance with the law, which was changed in 2017. On June 23, 2017, the government amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, effectively banning dual MRP. These rules came into effective from January 1, 2018, following the official notification by the Government. However, in practice this rule is still not being followed strictly due to lack of proper enforcement,” it added.

The survey reportedly received over 22,000 responses from consumers located in 322 districts of India. Around 63% respondents were men and 37% were women. Close to 48% respondents were from tier 1 cities, 32% were from tier 2 and 20% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.