Airlines, OTAs blame each other for botched ticket refund process

Refund requests and customer complaints to airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) are rising in the ongoing lockdown with both parties blaming each other for the botched refund process that has seen scores of customers getting caught in a limbo.

Travel industry and airline sources familiar with matters said while they were already experiencing cancellations prior to the lockdown, Rs 180 crore worth of additional airline tickets got booked between March 25 and May 3 across all private carriers, with IndigoNSE 3.67 % accounting for a chunk of these bookings estimated at about Rs 90-95 crore.
Private carriers continued booking tickets unlike Air India which was asked to not book by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).