As IndiGo’s widespread flight cancellations enter a fourth day, a passenger shared that his overnight flight from Chennai to New Delhi was abruptly cancelled. The passenger also alleged a predatory fare hike amid the ongoing disruption in India’s aviation sector, calling it “capitalism at its best” after he was forced to buy a replacement ticket at almost eight times the original cost.

The flyer wrote on Reddit that her late-night IndiGo flight was abruptly canceled, with the airline promising a refund within three to four business days while expressing that she was “deeply pained” by the inconvenience. The cancellation left him scrambling for alternatives ahead of his brother’s engagement ceremony.

The user wrote: “Air India has options but they have removed their Yatra listings. I think all airlines have done this. Only layover flights were listed with the shortest time frame of 23 hours. I went to Air India’s website and can see flights listed at 8 times the cost. So my 8.5k IndiGo flight that was canceled in India forced me to buy a flight.”

He alleged that airlines routinely hike prices during crises, citing the Chennai floods as an example.

“I would request everyone to use the little power we have left and do not book any future flights from Indigo. Ask your company HR to do the same for corporate flyers. Hundreds of cancellations a day just to intimidate DGCA into allowing Indigo to not follow their latest rules,” the user wrote at the end of his post.

“This is what monopoly does in an economy. IndiGo could have easily handled the DGCA guidelines months earlier. But no, they are trying to push. Most of the flights they are getting are to busier airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Kolkata,” commented one user.

“71K?! That’s daylight robbery to fly domestically,” wrote a second user. A third user said: “Brother I flew to USA for 50k. This is a robbery in broad daylight.”

“This is exactly why people lose trust in airlines. They cancel without accountability, and passengers end up paying the price. I feel so bad that this happened before such an important day for you,” commented a fourth user.