The Centre on Wednesday suggested that airlines pay customers a monthly interest of 0.5 per cent for delay in refunding the booking amount for cancelled air tickets, a proposal resisted by airlines. The suggestion came up during the case hearing pertaining to refund of air tickets to be made to the passengers and travel agents in view of cancellation of flights during the COVID-19 induced lockdown period.
Airlines cancelled thousands of tickets during the coronavirus lockdown and kept the money in so-called credit shells.
In its proposal before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, the government said it was open to considering interest rates of “any particular segment of passengers if adversely affected", reported Mint.
Most airlines were quick to oppose the interest on refund amount proposal. While Vistara and AirAsia said most customers prefer credit shells, IndiGo said it has fully refunded the booking amount, reported Mint. GoAir pleaded that many airlines are on the brink of collapse and may shut if the situation did not improve.
The court directed the government to file an additional affidavit detailing the refund modes of cancelled flights. The case will be heard on Friday.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for NGO ‘Pravasi Legal Cell’, said that if one books tickets in airlines like Air India, Indigo, etc and fly out of India then the affidavit filed by Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) is applicable. Hence, it violates the DGCA requirements.
Hegde said that the DGCA should also cover people for refund, who have booked flights on these carriers to come back to India like in the Gulf Countries and therefore the issue needs to be sorted.
DGCA filed a supplementary affidavit, clarifying that tickets booked during the lockdown will be immediately refunded.
On September 9, the top court had asked the Centre to clarify whether it is willing to give complete refund of air tickets booked for travel during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The DGCA, in its affidavit said that full refund shall be provided by airlines immediately for tickets booked during the COVID-19 lockdown for domestic or international travel within the lockdown period.
It had said if airlines are not able to refund on account of financial distress, they shall provide a credit shell equal to the amount of fare collected and this shall be issued in the name of the passenger who has booked the ticket for domestic travel directly or through an agent including online platforms.
