IndiGo passengers were told over the weekend after enquiry that all seats are chargeable for web check-in. The airline is now telling the media that there will be no charge for web check-in for some seats. But even on Tuesday evening, an online chat by a would-be passenger with IndiGo’s customer support suggested that “all” seats are carrying a fee. Some sources said the airline was still finalising the policy and some seats would be free for web check-in.

The IndiGo customer support executive listed the “charges” for each category, which vary depending on the row and the position of the seat. Each category was prefixed with the phrase “all seats”.

The following is the verbatim reproduction of the charges listed by the executive online:

All seats in rows 1 will cost Rs 800 per person per flight if booked through Website

All Window, Middle and Aisle seats of Rows 2nd to 3rd will cost Rs 450 per person per flight

All Window, and Aisle seats of Rows 4th to 10th will cost you 350 Rows 4th to 10th Middle 200

All window and Aisle Row 11 will cost you 200 Middle 100

All seats in Row 12 Window Middle and Aisle will cost you 600

All seats in Row 13 Window Middle and Aisle will cost you 600

All seats in Row 14 to 20 Window Aisle will cost you 200

All seats in Row 14 to 20 Middle will cost you 100

All seats in Row 21 to 31 Window Aisle will cost you 150

All seats in Row 21 to 31 Middle will cost you 100

If the policy listed by the IndiGo customer support executive is followed, this is how an interior of an Airbus A-319 with 31 rows will look. Each figure below is the charge you pay for the particular seat when you check in online

IndiGo said on Tuesday that discussions were being held within to bring more clarity to its web check-in policy that has drawn the ire of many passengers.

“It’s not necessary that a passenger booking a seat through web check-in needs to pay. There will be some free seats. A passenger will have to pay only during advance booking,” an IndiGo spokesperson said.

On Monday, in a statement to the media, IndiGo said it had not changed its web check-in policy. But when would-be passengers enquired, customer support executives said “all seats are now chargeable” for web check-in.

Anil Punjabi, chairman of Travel Agents Federation of India, east, tried to book seats on flight 6E 679 from Dehradun to Delhi and again 6E 786, from Delhi to Calcutta, for December 13.

“All seats were chargeable on the two flights. Earlier, if a passenger didn’t select a seat, then there would be no charge. The system would randomly allocate a free seat and issue the boarding pass,” said Punjabi. “However, today when I tried web check-in, I could not access the system without paying,” he said on Tuesday.

When The Telegraph spoke to a senior official of the airline, he conceded that more clarity was needed.

“There are internal discussions on how to implement the new policy with more clarity. At this stage there is some confusion,” another official said.

The airline has said check-in at the airport counter is still free.

The Telegraph