Online travel agencies caution against booking GoAir flights

Online travel agencies have warned against booking GoAir flights as they failed to receive any response on certain ticket cancellation even after govt orderd it. And...
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A prominent travel booking portal has stopped selling GoAir tickets, while another online travel agency (OTA) said they warn passengers on its website not to book flights with the Wadia group-owned low-cost airline.

These OTAs have been forced to take drastic measures after criticism from passengers due to sudden flight cancellations, the lack of response from the airline’s customer service and the inability to receive cash refunds on certain tickets despite from a government order.

“We decided to stop selling GoAir tickets from Monday because of customer flak due to a high number of cancellations, the airline being slow on refunds and not responding to complaints. One is not receiving the right kind of support that one needs as an OTA to service our customers. We are taking a cautious approach. There have been a very large number of cancellations in the past two to three days,” said a spokesperson of a leading OTA. It didn’t want to be identified because the airline is one of its key clients.

While most airlines automatically issue credit deposits to passengers affected by cancellations, GoAir does not provide it and OTAs need to approach the airline for each ticket to find out their refund policy, the spokesperson said why there are so many complaints against the airline.

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A response from GoAir to specific queries was awaited until the time of going to print.

The founder of another booking portal said, “We haven’t stopped taking bookings for the airline but we try to alter consumer behaviour by re-directing passengers to a page which informs them that the airline has not been issuing refunds for flights cancelled.” He said GoAir has sometimes rescheduled flights to date two months later without asking passengers for their preferred date.

Though the government ordered airlines to give cash refunds instead of credit shells for tickets booked after March 25 for travel up to May 3, GoAir has not done so. The airline owes this portal as much as ₹45-50 crore in refunds.

The inability to contact the airline’s customer care is a recurring theme in most complaints.

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GoAir’s Twitter timeline is replete with complaints from passengers and #GoAirScam and #GoAir_NoWhere have been trending on the platform. Several passengers have taken to the micro blogging site to complain about the airline cancelling flights without informing them.

“Can you please tell me, when will your customer care will pick my call? My flight has now been cancelled twice. Is this responsible behaviour?” wrote another Twitter user Vishal.

A few passengers also flagged how the GoAir website doesn’t allow passengers to cancel or reschedule their booking.

Last year, in the days leading to the complete closure of JetAirways, passengers faced similar problems including last-minute cancellations as the airline couldn’t pay rent for its planes as well as uncertainty on refunds.

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(Source: The Hindu)


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Manish Khandelwal
Manish Khandelwal

Manish Khandelwal, a travel-tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in the travel industry. Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Travelobiz.com, he's passionate about writing.

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