It’s a mixed bag for flyers. Airlines will now have to refund full flight ticket costs, without charging cancellation fee, to passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown period between March 25 and April 14 for travel between April 15 and May 3. However, the passengers who booked tickets before March 25, for travel between April 15 and May 3, will not be eligible for full refund.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday issued an advisory directing all airlines to refund airfares to passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown for flights cancelled during this period.
In a notification issued on Thursday, the Ministry said,"If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period, and the airline has received the payment for booking of air ticket during first lockdown period for travel during the second lockdown period, for both domestic and international air travel, and the passenger seeks refund on cancellation of the ticket, the airline shall refund the full amount collected without levy of cancellation charges"
Similarly, the Ministry clarified in its circular that if a passenger has booked a domestic or international ticket during the first lockdown period, and if the airline received the payment during that period only, for travel during the second lockdown period, the passenger can ask for refund from the airline and the latter shall give it. The ministry said the refund must be given to passengers within a period of three weeks from the date of the request for cancellation.
Several passengers have been complaining about the non-refunds by the domestic airlines. The refunds amount to around Rs 8,000 crore, sources said adding the airlines stated they would be severely hit if they were to refund in entirety.
Hence, they started issue credit shells for future travel. But travel agents from across the country asked the Government to mandate airlines to refund cash deposits worth hundreds of crores for which no tickets were issued. India has around 50,000 travel agents of which 15-20 are big consolidators. About 75%-80% of air tickets in the country are booked via agents.
All domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended during the lockdown period.
Before issuing the notification, the Ministry conducted a video conference with CEOs of private airlines and travel agents and discussed the issue of refund to customers whose flights have been cancelled after extension of nationwide Covid-19 lockdown till May 3.
Domestic airlines, except government’s Air India, in the country had been accepting flight bookings for the dates after April 14 , the last day of the phase 1 lockdown