Flight Ticket Refund: The government on Wednesday informed various portals related to online travel to start the process to refund the pending money related to air ticket booking to the consumers during the period of ‘lockdown’ imposed for the prevention of coronavirus epidemic and its prevention by the third week of November. Instructed to start by the end of.
Flights were canceled during Corona
To prevent the coronavirus epidemic, ‘lockdown’ was imposed in the country for different periods from March 25, 2020. During this period, scheduled commercial flight services were also closed for a certain period. The Consumer Affairs Ministry on Wednesday held a meeting with online travel service providers to discuss issues adversely impacting consumer interests in the travel sector.
The issue of non-refund of tickets booked during the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ period was discussed in the meeting chaired by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh. According to an official statement, travel facility providers (aggregators) have been asked to pay the pending fare amount affected due to the Covid-19 lockdown by the end of the third week of November.
Which platform returned how much refund?
Travel
Total amount returned till 2023 – Rs 22,85,72,914/-
Ease My Trip
Total amount returned till June 2021 – Rs 2,32,63,74,274
Make My Trip
Total amount returned by 2023 – Rs 978 crore
Cleartrip
Total amount refunded – Rs 158,27,18,784/-
Ixigo
Total amount returned in 2023 – Rs 46,68,84,355/-
‘Passenger Charter’ made for passengers
During the meeting, it was discussed that the National Consumer Helpline can be linked with the Air Sewa Portal for effective resolution of customer complaints. The Civil Aviation Minister and representatives of DGCA also highlighted that the Ministry has published a ‘Passenger Charter’ which contains the rights of passengers during air travel. It was decided that the Charter should be actively promoted among consumers including publishing it on the National Consumer Helpline.
Apart from this, setting up of an Ombudsman for time bound resolution of consumer complaints was also discussed. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Department of Consumer Affairs can jointly work out the modalities for setting it up.
