Centre mulls guidelines for flight tickets cancellations and refund

The government is formulating guidelines to facilitate air travellers with their booking issues and refund discrepancies during the lockdown period. The Civil Aviation Ministry on Wednesday had summoned the CEOs of all private airlines regarding the advance tickets booked during the lockdown period and the refund policy.

New Delhi:The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Friday said that government is formulating guidelines to facilitate air travellers with their booking issues and refund discrepancies during the lockdown period.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had on Wednesday summoned the CEOs of all private airlines regarding the advance tickets booked during the lockdown period and the refund policy.

"During the meeting, the government asked the airlines CEOs to decrease the credit shell validity from one year to six months and in case if the passenger doesn't avail this facility within this period then he should be given a full refund," said the ministry sources.

"The airlines apprised the ministry of their inability to refund all passengers in the current crisis and said that only those passengers who want to travel in the current situation are booking and they are being given the option to book after the lockdown when flight resumes," said sources.

Last week, Aviation consultancy CAPA had asked the government to review the sale of tickets beyond April 14-15 midnight.

"Today, the Civil Aviation Ministry is holding a meeting with commercial officials of all private airlines and travel agents regarding post lockdown operations and we can expect for the new guidelines very soon," said the Ministry spokesperson.

Meanwhile, GoAir, IndiGo, SpiceJet and few other private airlines are already prepared with their post-lockdown plans when the passenger flights will resume.

The airlines said that strict social distancing will be maintained at the airport during check-in and boarding, and on the aerobridges and buses, including row-wise boarding.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that the nationwide lockdown would be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said, "All domestic and international schedule Airlines operation shall remain suspended till 11:59 of 3rd May 2020."