Passengers who had booked flight tickets for travel between March 25 to May 3 can get their payments refunded by the airline on request. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday issued an official memorandum after several air passengers took to social media to complain about airline companies putting the money in a credit shell instead of providing a refund.
The DGCA stated that passengers who had booked tickets during the first lockdown period March 25 to April 14 for travel during the same period and until May 3 should be refunded fully by the airline without any cancellation charges. The airlines are to process the refunds within a period of three weeks from the date of the cancellation request.
The refund is applicable to all those who had booked tickets for domestic and international air travel, and ask for a refund. However, DGCA has not clarified if this also applies to tickets that were booked before the lockdown for travel during the first and the second lockdown period.
During the 21-day lockdown period between March 25 to April 14, airlines had started bookings for April 15 onwards. However, after the lockdown was extended to May 3, airlines said that the money would go into a credit shell against the customer’s PNR number, which they could use any time within the next year.
Many found this offer unacceptable and took to social media to complain.
The decision to refund the flight tickets comes after a meeting between senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and CEOs of Indian airline companies.
India imposed a 21-day lockdown from March 25 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Consequently, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights were suspended for this time period. However, most airlines, except national carrier Air India, were taking bookings for domestic flights for the period beyond April 14.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown till May 3, the DGCA issued a circular stating all international, as well as domestic flights, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
“Following orders from the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued to all airlines, we have extended the suspension of our operations until May 3, 2020,” the statement said.