Latest News | MGP Urges Civil Aviation Ministry to Issue Revised Guidelines for Ticket Refunds

Mumbai, Jun 10 (PTI) Consumer rights protection body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has urged the civil aviation ministry to have a fresh look at the issue of refunds on cancelled air tickets in the wake of the government extending the lockdown thrice since May 3.

In a letter to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday, MGP Chairman Shirish V Deshpande said that not only the lockdown period but also the pre-lockdown and extended periods need to be taken into consideration to issue revised guidelines for refund on air tickets for flights which could not operate due to the COVID-19 crisis.

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The letter comes at a time when domestic airlines are not refunding cash to passengers for the flights being cancelled by the airlines themselves. The airlines are forcing passengers to accept credit vouchers for a period as long as one year in some cases.  

On April 16, the aviation ministry said passengers can ask airlines for full refund if the bookings were done during the first phase of lockdown for travel up to May 3.

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However, the government did not say anything on whether full refund would be given to passengers who had booked their tickets before the lockdown for travel during the March 25-May 3 period.

"Considering the fact that lockdown was extended further from time to time till now and the advice given by the government to avoid travel wherever it is not so essential at least for a further period of six months, there is an urgent need to give a fresh look at the issue of refund on cancelled air tickets by passengers," the MGP chairman said in the letter.

Stating that it had pointed out certain anomalies in the April 16 order for immediate corrections, Deshpande said, "We regret to note that no action has been taken to remove the said anomalies as yet. In any case, the scope of the said advisory was confined to the first and second lockdown period only."

He said as per a survey carried out by MGP among 1,000 air passengers from different parts of India as well as the UAE, Kuwait, Georgia, France, UK, US and Canada between May 24-31, 86 per cent of the respondents insisted on cash refund only and rejected the option of credit voucher.

UN body UNCTAD had last week acknowledged MGP's demand of refund to passengers for their cancelled flights, and asked member countries to advise airlines to respect air passengers' rights.

"UNCTAD Secretariat has acceded to our request and has issued guidelines on June 4 for the UN member states, stipulating that airlines respect air passengers' right to refund for flights cancelled due to lockdown and that airlines should not deny refund of ticket amounts," he said in the letter.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)