Passengers upset over retroactive hike in airfares

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Air passengers at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta and the Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali were upset over an unexpected retroactive increase in airfares which became effective yesterday.

Passengers checking in at the airports were charged additional fees for their flights even though they had bought tickets on previous days.

The country's six airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara, Bouraq, Mandala, Sempati and Dirgantara, introduced yesterday a 10 percent increase in domestic airfares.

However, no announcements were made at the two airports, making passengers confused and disappointed when they were told to pay additional fees.

A passenger flying from Jakarta to Bali, Gunawan, told The Jakarta Post yesterday he bought a round-trip ticket from Jakarta to Denpasar for Rp 554,200 on Thursday.

"But when I checked in, I was charged an additional fee of Rp 30,800 to meet the new ticket price. There were some windows with an 'additional payment' board, but I thought they were for over- weight luggage payments. There were also other counters designated to serve customers with credit cards," he said.

He said most people had to pay Rp 31,000 since windows did not provide any coins for change.

Susi, another passenger who flew from Jakarta to Denpasar yesterday, said that raising the airfares retroactively was ridiculous.

"There should be official announcements about passenger price hikes. What if some passengers didn't have enough money but they had to take the flights," she said.

She said that passengers who had bought tickets before Dec. 12 (when the new airfares were introduced) should not have had to pay the additional fees.

"It doesn't make sense, charging additional fees for tickets purchased some time ago."

The Indonesian National Air Carrier Association (INACA) has been granted the authority by the government to increase airfares when necessary. The association has been complaining about low airfares in Indonesia, particularly after the currency turmoil hit the country last July.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto indicated last week that INACA might increase airfares. "But the airlines must not burden the public."

INACA's executives were not available for comment yesterday.

INACA also raised airfares between 8 percent and 10 percent on Oct. 27. It plans a raise of up to 26 percent before the end of the first quarter of 1998.

The new tariffs announced yesterday increased the average fare to Rp 315.19 from Rp 286.54 per kilometer for each seat.

Executives of Garuda at the Ngurah Rai Airport and the airline's office in Bali told the Post that there had not been a coordinated plan on how to introduce the new airfares.

"We just collected the additional fees," a Garuda's executive said. (icn)