In a meeting headed by the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) Secretary on April 8, 2020, all airline representatives were highly discouraged for their inability to refund passengers’ money against the flights that got cancelled amid the pandemic.
Passengers who booked their flight tickets last year and did not get the fares refunded after cancellation due to the pandemic, were demanded by the Supreme Court to do away with all the refunds by March 31, 2021.
Now, over 5 months after the deadline, Air India is yet to refund about Rs 250 crore to passengers for cancellation of their booked flights during the pandemic.
Air India has clarified to have already paid about Rs 130 crore of refunds by last month. Last year, Trak.in had reported that Air India was due to refund credit shells amounting to nearly Rs 2000 crore to 5.25 lakh passengers.
Air India Owes Rs 250 Cr As Travel Refund
As per the ET’s report, national carrier Air India is yet to refund an amount of about Rs 250 crore to passengers whose flights got cancelled during the pandemic.
In its clarification, the national carrier stated that it had started paying refunds from July last year, despite the revenue hitting negatively due to the Covid-induced travel restrictions.
“Air India is opening automated refunds in India and abroad. We have cleared about Rs 130 crore of refunds in the previous month and are planning to expedite the process”, stated the airline.
Airline companies like GoAir and IndiGo had earlier confirmed clearing (refunding) all the credit shells to the passengers who got their tickets cancelled in March 2020.
Additionally, online travel platforms and operators have informed that refunding the cancelled fares to passengers have been delayed or Air India.
“It seems that to manage cash flows, Air India has been delaying refunds of passengers. The period of opening a window for refunds from Air India has been highly limited. The speed is not optimal”, stated a travel operator to the ET.