Airlines refuse to refund for cancelled tickets during extended lockdown, offer to reschedule instead

MUMBAI: With the central government extending the lockdown to May 3 and subsequently suspension of all commercial passenger services till then, domestic airlines have again decided not to refund the customers in cash for their cancelled flights and instead offer them rescheduling of tickets for a later date without any additional fee.

India had imposed a 21-day lockdown from March 25 to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Consequently, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights were suspended for this time period.

However, most of the airlines had been taking bookings except national carrier Air India for domestic flights for the period beyond April 14.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown till May 3, the aviation regulator DGCA issued a circular stating all international as well as domestic flights will remain suspended during the lockdown.