Travellers in fix as airlines levy hefty charges for cancelling domestic, international trips

Although Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has stated that Air India will waive the cancellation charges, those who have approached the airline for cancellations are being levied charges with employees reportedly saying there has been no official directive as yet.

The lack of clarity on the policy and the resistance of many airline to waive cancellation charges have added to the confusion.

Pune-based IT professional Amandeep Singh had booked a trip to Dubai with 11 family members in the last week of March.

“We booked in the first week of February when coronavirus wasn’t such a big threat. It was limited to China and but since then, it has grown and spread across the world. Now, especially after the latest detection in Pune of a couple who returned from Dubai, we are not sure about the travel. However, the tourist company is not giving us any options to get out of the trip. Also, the government — either Indian or UAE — has not announced any directives we can cite to get a refund or reschedule,” said Singh.

Another Pune resident, Manoj Bhatia, who had booked a trip to Jammu with his family, including an infant, said he had to pay Rs 19,000 as cancellation charge as GoAir refused to refund the money.

“I had booked the flight several weeks ago. Since we have an infant with us, I decided to cancel the trip. However, GoAir levied a heavy cancellation charge. Of the Rs 37,000 I had paid for the round trip, I was refunded just Rs 17,000,” said Bhatia.

Bhatia said that GoAir’s new policy for fresh bookings from March 8 onwards will help passengers reschedule tickets for a travel date not later than September 30.

“This doesn’t apply to customers like me who had booked in advance to travel in March-April,” said Bhatia.

Nilesh Bhansali, director of Travel Agents Association of Pune (TAAP), said the government should intervene and issue directives that will bring clarity and relief to travellers.

“There is no clarity if the airlines will allow cancellation of bookings or rescheduling without levying charges. While they have announced some measures for individual bookings, the airlines are not ready to accommodate similar requests for group bookings.

We are dealing with angry customers every day. On one hand, we don’t want to push our clients to go ahead with travel considering it may be a health risk, on the other, the airline is not giving any easy way out,” said Bhansali. He added that the coronavirus outbreak has put a question mark on the entire summer travel season.

“All our summer booking happen in November-December. We take a lot of efforts for these, including conducting camps, campaigns and outdoor advertisements. Now, all the revenue has gone down the drain. The travel agencies are in distress and many have sent their employees on unpaid leave. On top of this, we have to face irate customers. We are just mediators between the customers and airlines and hoteliers who actually provide the service. The government should find some way out for all of us,” said Bhansali.