For your work or leisure, you booked a flight and hotel at your destination. You are gearing up for the day. But Mr. Corona had other plans. He suddenly disrupted your plans. Now you had to cancel your booking. You would hope that the cancellation would be an easy affair and you would get the refund easily. You can’t be far away from reality my friend.
People are finding it hard to get a refund on canceled travel plans
An online survey has revealed that only 29% of people were able to get a full refund on canceling flights and only 34% were able to get the same on canceling hotel bookings.
The recent outbreak of the newer variants is one of the major reasons for the cancellations. These variants like Omicron have given rise to the third wave. Several states and UTs declared night and weekend curfews. Hence travelers had to cancel their bookings on airlines and at hotels. However, only one-third of the people have received a complete refund following their cancellation, according to the survey. The survey also added that people also lost a large chunk of their money to travel websites and agents as well.
It should be noted that the survey received more than 20,000 responses from citizens residing in 332 districts of India.
In comparison to the second wave, the rate of refund on cancellation has increased now
The survey also said that, in comparison to the second wave, over twice as many citizens were able to get a flight ticket refund due to third-wave-related cancellations. However, the majority still ended up losing money to airlines, the survey added further.
The rapid rise in Omicron variant cases also has forced some airlines to cut down capacity and as a result, some of them waived off ticket rescheduling fees and permitted them to re-book an alternate flight till 31 March.
As compared to the second wave, over 2.5 times as many citizens were able to get a hotel booking refund due to third-wave-related cancellations. Still, the majority still ended up losing money to hotels, the survey reported. Citizens on the survey platform have been suggesting that the Government should come up with a special policy for travel booking refunds till the COVID pandemic is going on, especially for airlines and hotels.
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