After failing to refund tickets, airline now seeks rescheduling fee from mother and child to postpone trip

After failing to refund tickets, airline now seeks rescheduling fee from mother and child to postpone trip

The airlines demanded rescheduling charges which goes against the usual norms of providing a credit shell of one year, says Kapur.

Published: 14th August 2020 12:15 PM 

A plane lands at IGI Airport as others stand parked during Unlock 2 in New Delhi.

By C Shivakumar

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Anuradha (35) and her three-year old child booked a ticket on an Air Vistara flight from Delhi to Chennai on March 22. Since the national lockdown was announced, the mother and child could not travel and Air Vistara did not refund the ticket.

The airlines instead of providing the full refund of the amount collected for the tickets due to cancellation, provided a credit shell, valid up to one year.

R M Kapur, Executive director of Admiralty Marine Services and father of Anuradha says that following the assurances, the date was later postponed to June 27 hoping that Covid-19 pandemic will ease off by

that time. But as the day was approaching, there was a lockdown in Noida and the itinerary was postponed to August 26 hoping the pandemic will ease off again.

As the Covid-19 cases have been mounting in Chennai and fearing whether the child would be able to travel with a mask on for five hours, Kapur wants the travel to be postponed.

The airlines demanded rescheduling charges which goes against the usual norms of providing a credit shell of one year, says Kapur. "This is fleecing in these difficult times. Vistara is happily sitting over the customers money for over five months," says Kapur.

"They should have refunded the money in the first instance. But having the customer's neck in their hand, they forced us to keep postponing our travel even as there are no signs of Covid-19 cases easing." he says.

An Air Vistara spokesperson told The New Indian Express that the airlines had already given two reschedule waivers (as confirmed by the customer) and were ready to offer another. The team is already in

touch with Anuradha and may give her a full refund. 

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Centre and the airline companies have been asked by the Supreme Court to discuss modalities for full refund of tickets for domestic and international flights which were cancelled

following the COVID-19 lockdown.

A petition is also moved in the Supreme Court where it is submitted that the airlines instead of providing the full refund of the amount collected for the tickets due to cancellation, are providing a credit shell, valid up to one year, which is clear in violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAV) of May 2008 issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). 

The CAV clearly states that 'the option of holding the refund amount in credit shell by the airlines shall be the prerogative of the passenger and not a default practice of the airline.'

The office memorandum of the Ministry of Civil Aviation deals with refund of ticket amount collected without levy of cancellation charge and pertains to only those people who booked tickets during the

lockdown period thus leaving out people who booked tickets prior to lockdown but the flights cancelled due to lockdown.

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MKU submits report on answer sheet scandal

MKU submits report on answer sheet scandal

15/08/2020

Staff Reporter

MADURAI

Madurai Kamaraj University has submitted a status report on the recent answer sheet scandal to the office of Governor and Chancellor Banwarilal Purohit.

On August 8, Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan said there were irregularities in the conduct of semester examinations by the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE). He said there were malpractices at some distance learning centres in Kerala. Answer scripts written at home were allowed to be inserted into answer sheet bundles during the semester exams and there were discrepancies in 29 answer scripts, he said.

Speaking to The Hindu on Friday, the VC said the status report had details on investigations undertaken by the university till date. "We will comb through close to one lakh answer scripts to check for discrepancies. If the number is high, we will approach the police,” he said.

The Exam and Disciplinary Committee, a high-level panel of syndicate members, would meet on August 21 to discuss the progress of investigation. “Action has not been taken against any employee yet. We will discuss this aspect also,” he said.

Use Aadhaar to get e-pass for inter-district travel instantly

Use Aadhaar to get e-pass for inter-district travel instantly

15/08/2020

Special Correspondent CHENNAI

From August 17, people who apply for an e-pass by providing their Aadhaar or ration card details will get the permit “at once”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Friday.

In a statement, Mr. Palaniswami appealed to the public to apply for an e-pass “only for unavoidable reasons” as the decision to simplify the system had been taken for the welfare of the people.

“I request the public to strictly follow the Standard Operating Procedure framed by the State government to contain the spread of COVID-19, and to extend their cooperation towards the steps being taken by the State government,” the Chief Minister said.

He said the lockdown restrictions had been eased for the benefit of the public, and e-passes were being granted for inter-district movement. Steps were being taken to monitor those moving between districts, and their contacts were being traced in case they contract the infection, he added.

An official release clarified that the “present e-pass system would continue to be in place for international and inter-State movement”.

A Government Order issued by Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam said the decision to ease the e-pass system was taken to enable the movement of people within the State for “important work”.

E-pass applications would be approved “immediately without any delay” for all applicants who provide their Aadhaar or ration card details along with their telephone or mobile numbers, it added.

DMK president M.K. Stalin said, “I reiterate my demand that the e-pass system must be abolished. However, the people should also use the [revised] e-pass system announced today [Friday] responsibly, and only for extremely important purposes.”

Highest and the lowest

Highest and the lowest

15/08/2020

Special Correspondent THENI

Theni district has the highest number of 3,188 active cases of COVID-19 and Sivaganga had 421 cases, the least, among the southern districts on Friday.

There were 3,188 active cases in hospitals and Covid care centres in Theni and as on date, and 112 people had died. Out of the 10 districts in southern district, only Theni had a high number of active cases, while seven districts had anywhere between 1,050 and 1,495 active cases and two districts had less than 1,000, as per the State Health Bulletin.

Over 50 AI pilots ‘released from service’ at one go

Over 50 AI pilots ‘released from service’ at one go

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:15.08.2020

In what came as a shock to many, more than 50 Air India pilots were “released from their services” via an email, sent out by the management, close to midnight on Thursday.

According to employees, this is the first time that such a sizeable number of pilots — two from Hyderabad — have been shown the door by AI, on a single day. Several among those relieved, they added, tested positive for Covid-19 during execution of the Vande Bharat Mission.

All these pilots are staffers who tendered their resignations between 2019 and 2020 and later withdrew them for various reasons. The withdrawals were made before the lapse of the mandatory notice period.

In the letter (a copy of which is in TOI’s possession), AI stated that the “company is no longer accepting any withdrawal of resignation” while highlighting that the financial strain suffered by the national carrier owing to the pandemic, was another reason for not entertaining withdrawals.

While the AI spokesperson maintained that the pilots were not terminated but only relieved from duty, “on completion of their notice period” as they had earlier resigned “citing financial constraint and wanting to join private competitor airlines”, pilots termed the move “rash” and “illegal”.

Full report on www.toi.in