While Indians have gradually resumed air travel, a sizeable number of travellers is still struggling to get a refund for their booked air tickets during lockdown.
According to a Directorate of General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) report, 61.4% passengers in December complained of issues surrounding refunds. These complaints were largely against national carrier Air India followed by SpiceJet and TruJet. This is despite the Supreme Court’s order to refund all passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown period last year.
Jay Bhatia, vice-president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said, “Air India is refunding the monies through travel agents, but the progress is very slow. Presently immediate refunds are getting processed on our global distribution system (GDS) only below the value of our weekly sales. As regards to SpiceJet, refunds for groups and series of agents is being processed slowly and we are confident that the same shall be settled by the end of this month. Our members had major concerns with GoAir but the airline has assured it would refund all monies by January-end.”
