Fliers Flag Up To 15-Fold Higher MRP On Food Sold Onboard Flights

High and dual maximum retail prices for packaged water and food onboard flights are a major pain point for air passengers across the country, a survey showed.

As much as 59% of the fliers said airlines sold them packaged food with a published MRP higher than the MRP available in the market, while 72% of them reported higher prices for bottles of water in the last 12 months, according to a survey that was released by LocalCircles on Tuesday.

Consumers reported five to 15 times higher MRP being published on certain packaged products and sold on-board, the survey said.

Over the last 12 months, LocalCircles has received hundreds of complaints from consumers who 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.

On June 23, 2017, the Union government amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, effectively banning dual MRP. However, in practice, this rule is still not being followed strictly due to a lack of proper enforcement, the survey said.