The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered domestic airlines operating flights in and out of India to refund passengers for tickets on flights canceled between March 25 and May 24 with no cancellation fees.
A bank of Judges Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah accepted the proposal from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) submitted by Attorney General Tushar Mehta, saying, “Also for international travel if tickets are booked the tickets were booked during the blocking period for travel within the blocking period, an immediate refund will be made. “
The three-week full refund condition would also apply to overseas airlines when booking within India. “In all other cases, the airlines will make every effort to refund the passenger the amount collected within 15 days from today,” they said.
“If an airline is unable to do this for financial reasons, it must provide a credit for the collected fare on behalf of the passenger if the booking is made either directly by the passenger or through a travel agent in order to do the same on or before the To consume March 31, 2021, “it said.
The credit shell could be used to book tickets on any route and could be transferred by the original passenger on someone else’s behalf, the bank said, urging airlines to provide a mechanism for such transfer.
As many travelers book their tickets through travel agents, the bank said, “In cases where passengers bought the ticket through a travel agent and a credit shell is issued on behalf of the passenger, that credit shell can only be used through the travel agent Who booked the ticket? “If the credit shell is not used by March 31, 2021, the travel agent will refund money against it, the bank said.
“In all cases where credit shell is issued there shall be an incentive to compensate the passenger from the date of cancellation upto June 30, in which event the credit shell shall be enhanced by 0.5% of the face value (the amount of fare collected) for every month or part thereof between the date of cancellation and June 30. Thereafter the value of the credit shell shall be enhanced by 0.75% of the face value per month upto March 31, 2021,” it said and asked the DGCA to enforce this strictly.
For the latest travel news and updates, Follow and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin!
Also Read – Air India Cancels All Frankfurt Flights Till Oct 14
