The IT firms, many of which have major hubs in Chennai, also chipped in to help the city drowned dramatically after incessant unseasonal rains.

It is the unkindest cut for the Chennaiites. At a time when the common people are scrambling to escape the devastation caused by the floods, the airfares from Bengaluru, the nearest air head, is soaring. A look at various ticket booking sites show that they have risen as much as Rs 50,000 and more to select destinations. And leading from the forefront to fleece the unlucky travellers is none other than the state-owned carrier Air India.

If you want to fly out from Bengaluru to Kolkata, you would do well to rethink your plans. A fare check on cleartrip.com at 3 pm showed that one way cheapest fare for travel today from Bangalore to Kolkata was Rs 51,514. That's not the only such incident. It would take an unbelievable 25 hours and five minutes to reach the destination. Ironically, this 'cheap' fare is offered by Air India mocks a warning by the civil aviation ministry on Friday asking airlines not to fleece passengers at this hour of crisis.

"The civil aviation ministry, which had warned airlines that it would intervene if the carriers didn't stop taking advantage of the situation, said the flights would operate daily from the naval airbase in Chennai over the next two days to rescue stranded passengers," a report in The Economic Times said. "We have requested the airlines not to take advantage of the situation and overcharge fliers. If this continues, we will have to fix fares like we did in the case of Nepal," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had told the business daily.

Another sector that is costing a bomb is the Bengaluru-New Delhi sector, if anyone decides to travel on Saturday. At 3.15 pm, the cheapest air connectivity between these two cities was being offered by SpiceJet at Rs 21,710 for one-way fare. Vistara is charging Rs 26,741 for the same route which is the second cheapest fare, of course, offering the luxury of a full carrier.

In this mayhem of killer airfares to key destinations from Bangalore, the ones those flying to Mumbai from Bengaluru on Saturday are perhaps the most fortunate ones. Jet Airways is offering tickets for five of its flights from Bengaluru to Mumbai between the fare bracket of Rs 6,620 and Rs 8,313. But there is a catch. It would take a minimum of 18 hours 35 minutes to reach Mumbai, just a few hours less than the time taken by a train to cover the distance.

The fleecing by the airlines comes even as authorities are struggling to operationalise Chennai airport. Suddenly left at the mercy of airlines because of nature's fury, the passengers are hoping that the Chennai airport starts functioning normally at the earliest. The only silver lining is that from today the airport is allowing aircraft carrying relief materials to land and take off from the airport.

This unreasonable spike in air fares has been in sharp contrast to what corporate India is doing to help those in distress unlike the civil aviation sector. "Telecom companies such as BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, RCom and Aircel are offering free talktime to their customers in the city that is witnessing the heaviest rainfall seen in close to a century," said a report in The Indian Express.

The IT firms, many of which have major hubs in Chennai, also chipped in to help the city drowned dramatically after incessant unseasonal rains. Facebook also activated its Safety Check feature for the Chennai floods allowing people to inform their near and dear ones about their well-being.

Food firm Zomato also evolved a unique by starting "a meal scheme wherein the company will provide a meal for Chennai residents for each meal purchased via its website". Taxi aggregator Ola also offered to help people stuck in different parts of city to reach their homes.

An ICICI Bank spokersperson said, "ICICI Bank will not levy any penalty for its customers in Chennai for delay in EMI and credit card payments for the month of November. It will also waive off charges for cheque bounce in the same period."