Domestic airlines decline refund to customers for cancelled tickets as lockdown extended

New Delhi: With the extension of the lockdown announcement till May 3, domestic airlines have decided not to refund customers in cash for their cancelled flights and instead offered them rescheduling of tickets for a later date without any additional fee.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown till May 3, aviation regulator DGCA issued a circular stating all international, as well as domestic flights, will remain suspended during the lockdown. "Following orders from the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued to all airlines, we have extended the suspension of our operations until May 3, 2020," it stated.

Vistara spokesperson said in a statement, "We are in the process of cancelling the affected bookings and we will offer customers free of charge rescheduling to another date until December 31, 2020," adding that the customer, however, will have to pay the fare difference, if any, at the time of rebooking.

A GoAir spokesperson said that it has already "factored in" this type of scenario and that the airline will review its earlier scheme of providing rescheduling free of cost at a later date while protecting their existing bookings for one year. It stated, "In accordance with the Prime Minister's instructions and the DGCA's circular, GoAir has suspended all its flights till May 3." 

The airline also said it is extending it's Protect Your PNR' scheme till May 3, 2020, wherein customers are eligible to reschedule their flight by May 3, 2021. On Monday, the airline had announced that it was extending the ?Protect Your PNR? scheme till April 30, 2020.

Within hours of the government extending lockdown to May 3, budget carrier IndiGo announced the resumption of flight services though in a phased manner from May 4. Announcing that all its flights are cancelled till May 3, IndiGo said, it is in the process of cancelling the reservations. 

"Your ticket amount is protected in the form of credit shell in the PNR, which can be utilised within one year of the issued date," it said, adding "In its endeavour to reconnect critical air corridors post the lockdown, IndiGo, India's leading airline, will resume flight operations from May 4, 2020." 

Gurugram-based SpiceJet also said, "We are cancelling the reservation of those who booked tickets for travel till May 3, 2020. Upon cancellation your entire amount will be maintained in credit shell and the same may be used for fresh bookings and travel till February 28, 2021, for the same passenger." 

Aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India said the civil aviation ministry should instruct airlines to "halt unfair practice of taking advance bookings until resumption is certain and an interim transition schedule has been established".

The civil aviation ministry should instruct airlines to "halt the unfair practice of taking advance bookings until resumption is certain and an interim transition schedule has been established", the CAPA said in a series of tweets.

With the lockdown extended till May 3, passengers who have purchased tickets for the April 15 to May 3 would "once again only be offered credit for future travel, rather than a refund," it added.

Earlier on March 25, India had imposed a 21-day lockdown 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.