Indian Railways Says No Penalty On Extra Luggage; Air India Hikes Excess Baggage Fees By 25%!
A 30-year-old law exists on placing fine on the extra luggage, and as per the reports, it was decided that up to 6-times penalty would be charged.
In a turn of events, Indian Railways has decided to roll back their decision to charge 6-times penalty for carrying extra luggage inside trains.
What made them roll back this decision? We will soon the exact reason.
Meanwhile, in a related news, Air India has hiked their excess baggage charges by 25%. From now on, it will cost you Rs 500 / kg for extra baggage.
Indian Rail: Sorry, No Fine For Extra Luggage
48 hours back, we had reported that from now on, Indian Railways will become super strict, when it comes to extra luggage. A 30-year-old law exists on placing fine on the extra luggage, and as per the reports, it was decided that up to 6-times penalty would be charged.
But now, this decision has been withdrawn.
Spokesman Rajesh Bajpayee said,
“It was felt that in the heavy summer rush, passengers carrying excess luggage cause much inconvenience to others,”
As per Rajesh, the talk about penalty was just to create more ‘awareness’ about the issue.
It seems that Indian Railways will now become strict against ticketless travel, and instead of luggage check, they will go full throttle to penalize ticketless passengers.
As per some insiders sources, Indian Railways drew criticism from all quarters, because of this decision to impose a penalty on extra luggage. In case the penalty is imposed on extra luggage then it may cause much inconvenience to the common man, who uses trains for meeting basic travel needs.
Besides, a lot of passengers belong to villages and rural areas, and often carry agricultural produce on the trains. Penalty 6-times for extra luggage didn’t seem logical from the start.
Air India’s Excess Baggage Fees: Rs 500/Kg!
Meanwhile, the debt-ridden state carrier Air India has decided to increase the extra baggage fees by Rs 100, to make it Rs 500 per kg henceforth.
This is a 25% increase in fees.
In a circular, Air India said,
“It has been decided to revise the excess baggage rate in the domestic sector to Rs 500 per kg per coupon on all travels commencing on or after June 11 from Rs 400 per kg,”
This new rule would be applicable only on domestic flights.
Besides the additional fees, there would be GST applicable as well: It would be 5% for economy class passengers, and 12% for executive or first class.
GST won’t be applicable for passengers flying from these airports: Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Meghalya, Nagaland, Sikkim, besides the Bagdogra airport in West Bengal.
We will keep you updated, as we receive new updates.
