Festival Airfares: Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing on Fare Cap Plea

The Supreme Court on Monday, 2 November, declined to list urgently an application seeking caps on domestic airfares during the festival season. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Singh heard the mention in a pending PIL by S. Laxminarayanan against algorithm-based dynamic pricing of air tickets, LiveLaw reported. Justice Nath told the petitioner’s lawyer, “Don’t travel by air. Next case.”

Fares Seven Times Higher, Plea Says

The application, filed on 30 October, asks the Centre to frame a mechanism to cap economy fares during festival periods, and seeks interim caps for the current and year-end seasons. It also asks that the free checked baggage allowance in economy be restored from 15 kg to 25 kg during festivals. Advocate Abhinav argued that fares had risen to as much as 700% of normal and violated Article 14 of the Constitution.

The plea cites Delhi to Kolkata at Rs 78,694 for 6 November against a usual Rs 10,000 to Rs 11,000, and Mumbai to Delhi at Rs 60,577 against Rs 11,531. These are figures from the petition and have not been verified by the court.

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A Pricing Case Already on the Docket

The main petition, W.P.(C) No. 1124/2025, challenges dynamic pricing algorithms used by airlines. IPB News has reported earlier that the Centre told the court about airfare pricing rules it had finalised. On 1 November the Centre notified the Bharatiya Vayuyan Niyam, 2026, which comes into force on 1 January 2027.

Hearing Fixed for 16 November

The PIL stays listed for 16 November under the court’s earlier order, so no interim relief will come before then. Travellers booking for the festival week will face current fares. More court coverage is at Daily Updates.

Source: Based on reporting by LiveLaw and Newstrack.

Image: LiveLaw.