Floods...boon for atleast someone

"Situation is grim but we definitely need to travel to Bangalore..."

"...But how?? the roads are flooded and the tracks are all submerged"

"Let's see if we can get any flight today or tomorrow early morning..."

"Oh yeah..!! we have couple of them...and it start with 9800 to 14000 per seat..!!!"

Andhra was recovering fast from the CM chopper crash, and then sudden heavy splash of rain marred the 'very' spirit of people. Many villages got submerged in the flowing water and number of people got stranded. The roads and specially national highways got affected by the flowing water. The railway tracks got damaged leaving couple of trains standing still for days..!!!

The only means of transport left was airways. We have numerous airways carriers that can accommodate the plight of travelers. On a fine day you can get a ticket for Hyderabad to Bangalore route for Rs.3000 to 4000 maximum, but today was a special day. It was the day meant for healthy business for these carriers. The same ticket was now priced at Rs.9800 to 14000 i.e. more than 3-4 times than normal prices...!!! It seems to be perfect occasion for airline company to plug their losses. It reminded me of similar occasion 2 years back when I had to travel from Jaipur to Delhi to attend my convocation at IIT Kanpur. At that time, a mere Rs.1500 worth ticket was priced at Rs.11000 i.e. around 10 times..!!! I am sure, Indigo and Kingfisher had a good laugh at the end of day.

But think about the traveler, someone could have a urgent meeting or someone might be holding a breath in waiting. Lakhs of people travel between these two metropolitan cities and instead of providing them a pinch of relief, these companies are extracting the best from their pockets. Where goes the ethical governance during these tough times? I know it's the result of simple demand and supply equation, but aren't assumptions allowed here, haven't these contingencies been planned by airlines? Can't the government expose an upper limit cap on the surging fares to protect the right of traveling for common people?

Is there a way out? I would be consoled if a proportion of this extra money am shelling out for these travels is spend on flood relief projects, but can it happen???