Air ticket refunds from travel sites delayed

Most airlines do not reimburse cash to booking portals but have set up a digital wallet for future use

24/04/2020, JAGRITI CHANDRA,NEW DELHI

Airlines are facing a severe cash crunch.

If you have booked an air ticket during the lockdown through a travel portal, you are unlikely to get a refund immediately despite a government order. Most airlines have not reimbursed money to online travel agents (OTAs) due to a severe cash crunch.

Low-cost carriers IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, AirAsia and TrueJet say booking portals deposit money in advance in the bank accounts of the airlines to be able to buy air tickets. In return for this cash deposit, airlines create a wallet online against which a portal can purchase tickets. These wallets merely give entities an indication of the balance amount they can utilise, unlike other digital wallets that allow one to carry out monetary transactions.

Since the government directive, airlines have not reimbursed cash to portals such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com, EasyMyTrip and ixigo, but merely restored the balance in the online wallet.

“When airlines reimburse an amount to this online wallet, without actually refunding cash into our bank accounts, we don’t have money with us to give refunds. Only when fresh bookings start will we be able to utilise that wallet to book tickets for our customers, and with new cash flowing in, we will be able to refund our previous clients who have sought refunds,” says Nishant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip.com.

Mr. Pitti says their website is the only one to refund cash to their clients by digging into its earnings. He says the website has made refunds for tickets worth ₹50 crore. Citing industry estimates, Mr. Pitti says that tickets worth ₹180 crore were bought by various travel portals from different Indian airlines during the lockdown period.

Full-service carriers such as Vistara and Air India have asked OTAs to share air tickets and a refund application from passengers, which is then verified and processed.

As far as direct bookings with airlines during the lockdown are concerned, the likes of IndiGo and SpiceJet have conveyed to their passengers that the money has been reimbursed and it will take three weeks for the amount to reflect in their bank accounts. In response to a query, Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO Yatra.com said: “We are closely working with our airline partners to work out more benign policies for the customers and trying our best to streamline the cancellation and refund process. We are processing refunds as per the policies defined by the airlines.” MakeMyTrip says on its website, “If you have a credit shell issued by IndiGo or SpiceJet for an impacted booking, you can use it to book your ticket for a future travel date.” Ixigo’s website says, “We are working with our airline partners to get their updated advisories. In the meantime, the current policies remain valid.”