[BoneCollector]

Our tickets were PAT-DEL on 14th March and return on 29th March. The airlines were different for to and fro journey. There was quite a bit of loss for the onward journey but the return leg was cancelled due to lockdown and full refund was issued.

Similar was the case with my brother in law's tickets. His booking was for April which of course went on to a credit note. His flights were rescheduled twice, once money was refunded for fare difference and next time, money was charged for fare difference. Although everything was seamless.

I always insist on a booking directly from the official website or app for airlines or hotels. That saves a lot of hassles.

[Sk8r]

I had bookings for VTZ - MAA with Indigo in April.

I received full refund couple of months back.

I made my bookings using EasemyTrip

[akp666]

Disclaimer: In no way am I soliciting my business here, this is purely for helping anyone trying to make sense of what to do.

Background: Indian Holiday PVT LTD – my family owned business for the last 30 years.

As a destination management company (Or travel agency for some), we have been facing quite tough times dealing with this entire scenario, and getting wedged between people who want refunds & dealing with airlines & hotels who refuse to do so/delay/try to get guests to rebook/any other scenario except a full refund.

The airlines cannot hold on to your money, unless one falls into their gimmicks. Going into details as follows:

- My own flight booking booked through “Intermiles Points(rebranded Jet Airways Miles)” for flights to Berlin in March. Full refund of miles and payment received after 4 months from Luftansa. We did not book directly with Luftansa & kept pursuing with them refusing all options except for my money back.

- My clients who have been suffering and waiting impatiently, they are being refunded in full, when we receive the payment from the airlines. The airlines tell us the same thing, i.e, all solutions except for a refund. Although the DGCA did step in and said that they will not be entertaining complaints from travel agents, only from clients directly which should have prompted us to take the same route that MMT or others have been doing – refusing the rightful payments of the guests. A lot depends on the ethics of the organisation one books from as well.

- While we cannot approach the DGCA, we did instruct our clients to go all out on social media & emails to the airlines refusing to do so/delaying payments, especially Air India, while we maintained pressure on the airline from our end by sending copies of the same email and escalating them when required. And it worked. Slowly refunds started trickling it, although they were delayed and we have been refunding payments to our guests as and when we get the amount and keep the guests in loop throughout. As I said, it is all about the ethics.

I am copying a few emails in which a client followed up with the airlines in tandem with us and DCGA separately (Names edited for privacy).

Email 1
================================================== ================================================== =======

On Friday, May 22, 2020, 8:38 PM, TrafficServices Hqrs <connecti@airindia.in> wrote:
Dear XXXX,

Whilst we empathize with your predicament, you will appreciate that the virus
has paralyzed the entire world be it any profession, which is beyond the control
of neither passenger or Airline.

Please be guided by the Aviation regulator DGCA guidelines,only tickets issued on
or after 25MAR for travel within 25MAR to 03May20 are eligible for a full refund.

Your tickets under reference seem to be booked much before the stipulated time frame
& hence are eligible for cancellation charges.

We humbly request you stay in touch with your agent from where your tickets were purchased
who will guide you with the same.

Thank you for your understanding.

Air India Limited

Traffic Services Hqrs

----- Original Message -----
From: XXXX
To: "TrafficServices Hqrs" <connecti@airindia.in>
Cc: "Directorate General of" <dgoffice.dgca@nic.in>,
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 7:53:04 PM
Subject: Re: - Cancellation of flights due to COVID

Thank you for your response. My ticket was booked in February for travel in May.
If the flight is cancelled, full refund should be granted regardless of the date of booking.
It is also to be noted that the Govt. is advising senior citizens with medical conditions to avoid travel.
Please confirm that I will get. Full refund without any deductions. I understand that there may be cash flow constraints and it may take time to get a refund - say 2-3 months but any deduction is not justifiable.
Another approach could be that Air India issues a credit note to the travel agent for use for purchase of any other person with the consent of the cancelling passenger. The travel agent can pay the cancelling passenger after getting payment from the new passenger.
I think that this should be a workable solution. Please advise.
DGCA is also requested to look into this.
Thanks,


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


On Friday, May 22, 2020, 7:24 PM, TrafficServices Hqrs <connecti@airindia.in> wrote:

Dear XXXX,

If tickets are booked thru a travel agent you need to contact your agent for refund.

Refund follows the same procedure as booking.

As per the instructions given by ministry of Civil Aviation it has , it has been decided to allow full refunds without levying any cancellation charges for all bookings made and payment received between period mentioned below.

Date of purchase: should be between 25th march 2020 to 3rd may 2020

Travel Date: should be between 25th march 2020 to 3rd may 2020

Journey’s applicable: for all the tickets issued on 098 document having Domestic and International journey.

We trust we have your understanding and support.

Thanks & Regards

Air India Limited

Traffic Services Hqrs

-------- Original Message --------
From: XXXX
Date: May 19, 2020 4:30:53 PM
Subject: Cancellation of flights due to COVID
To: "contactus@airindia.in" <contactus@airindia.in>
Cc: "dgoffice.dgca@nic.in" <dgoffice.dgca@nic.in>

My wife and I (senior citizens) were planning to travel to USA this month. The flights have been cancelled due to COVID.

I am told by my travel agent that the amount paid will not be refunded but I can make a date change without any rescheduling charges but will have to pay the fare difference if any.

These terms are not acceptable to me. I would like to get a full refund and not travel at a later date. Please let me know how to go about it.

I had some train reservations also for which I have received a full refund. Why should Air India not follow the same practice?

Thanks,
================================================== ================================================== =======

Email 2
From: XXXX >
Sent: 03 June 2020 12:09 PM
To: TrafficServices HqrsD <connectd@airindia.in>
Cc: dgoffice.dgca@nic.in <dgoffice.dgca@nic.in>
Subject: Re: Mail from Air India

Please confirm whether I will receive a full refund if I do not wish to travel now.

Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone


On 03-Jun-2020, at 10:08 AM, TrafficServices HqrsD <connectd@airindia.in> wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam

Greetings from Air India!

We acknowledge the receipt of your letter received from DGCA.

We deeply regret the inconvenience caused due to complete lockdown on account of ongoing Coronavirus (COVID 19) and sincerely apologize for the same.

With regard to your concern, kindly refer to the updated Advisory available on our website (www.airindia.in), on Refund/Date change due to COVID – 19, Corona Virus. You may visit the link http://www.airindia.in/COVID-19-UPDATED.htm for detailed information.

http://www.airindia.in/images/pdf/Am...-converted.pdf


While we encourage you to rebook for a later date, for which you need to contact Air India Call centre or Booking Office. Should you face difficulty, then you may contact us through email, phone, or webchat services link on our website. If any cancellation or refund is desired, the same will be processed through the original ticketing agent or portal. The refunds are processed as per approved rules communicated through the policy advisories.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Your kind support and cooperation are solicited in this moment of crisis.

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Stay Safe. Stay Healthy.

Warm Regards

Air India Ltd.
Traffic Services HQ
================================================== ================================================== =======

Email 3

Akshay,

Are they going to refund the whole amount as requested?

Regards,



________________________________________
From: ihpl (Akshay) <akshay@indianholiday.com>
Sent: 29 July 2020 12:44 PM
To: XXXX
Cc: 'ihpl (Utkarsh)' <utkarsh@indianholiday.com>; 'dipali' <dipali@indianholiday.com>
Subject: RE: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights

Dear XXXX

The refund has been approved from Air India. They will process the refund to us, and we are following up on it. I will keep you informed when it is in our accounts.

With Regards

Akshay

From: XXXX
Sent: 17 July 2020 07:33 PM
To: 'ihpl (Utkarsh)'; ihpl (Akshay)
Subject: Fw: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights

FYI - I am taking this up again at all levels!

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: TrafficServices HqrsD <connectd@airindia.in>
Date: Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 11:12 AM
Subject: Fwd: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights
To: XXXX
Cc: Corporate Affairs HQRS. <corporateaffairs.hq@airindia.in>, Section Officer AIRINDIA <so-ai.moca@nic.in>


Dear Sir

Greetings from Air India!

We acknowledge the receipt of your mail.

We deeply regret the inconvenience caused due to complete lockdown on account of ongoing Coronavirus (COVID 19) and sincerely apologize for the same.

With regard to your concern, we would like to inform you that Air India offers you to rebook for a later date for travel till 31st December 2021 without any charges, as your ticket is protected at its full value, kept in a credit shell, for which you are requested to contact Air India Call centre or Booking Office, once you decide to travel.

Kindly refer to the updated Advisory available on our website (www.airindia.in), on Refund/Date change due to COVID – 19, Corona Virus and you may visit the link http://www.airindia.in/COVID-19-UPDATED.htm for detailed information. Should you face difficulty, then you may contact us through email, phone, or webchat services link on our website.

If any cancellation or refund is desired, the same will be processed through the original ticketing agent or portal. The refunds are processed as per approved rules communicated through the policy advisories.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Your kind support and cooperation are solicited in this moment of crisis.

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Stay Safe. Stay Healthy.


Warm Regards

Air India Ltd.
Traffic Services HQ


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "DEL TrafficServices" <tshq@airindia.in>
To: "TrafficServices HqrsD" <connectd@airindia.in>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 7:46:42 AM
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights

Traffic Services HQ, Commercial Dept. वानिज्य विभाग+91-11-24622220 extn 7501 / 24655364 111 Air India Reservations Building, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi - 110003

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Commercial Director <cd@airindia.in>
To: DEL TrafficServices <tshq@airindia.in>, Divya Mohan <divya.mohan@airindia.in>
Cc: Corporate Affairs HQRS. <corporateaffairs.hq@airindia.in>
Sent: Mon, 13 Jul 2020 18:13:05 +0530 (IST)
Subject: Fwd: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights

Madam,

Please take necessary action and respond to the passenger, under intimation to Corporate Affairs, Hqrs.

Thanks and regards

Niket Garg
Dy GM-C
O/o Director-Commercial


From: "Corporate Affairs HQRS." <corporateaffairs.hq@airindia.in>
To: "Commercial Director" <cd@airindia.in>
Cc: "EDCA EDCA" <edca@airindia.in>, "Shrawan Shangari" <shrawan.shangari@airindia.in>, "Sanjay Gupta" <sanjay.gupta@airindia.in>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2020 5:02:05 PM
Subject: Fwd: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights

Madam
Ref. TM

Request to please take necessary action uregntly.
Thanks and regards,


Rohit Dubey
For Executive Director(CA)
Corporate Affairs
Airlines House,Air India HQRS.
011-23464216/23464244
Mob: 9868940449


From: "Section Officer AIRINDIA" <so-ai.moca@nic.in>
To: "Corporate Affairs HQRS." <corporateaffairs.hq@airindia.in>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2020 3:23:53 PM
Subject: request for revision of orders to Air India regarding refund for tickets of cancelled flights


Sir

Please find enclosed herewith, for action, as appropriate, a copy of self explanatory letter received from Shri XXXX on the above mentioned subject. AIL is requested to reply directly to the applicant.

Regards,

Air India Division
Ministry of Civil Aviation


[ http://gandhi.gov.in/ ]


================================================== ==================


- Attaching an Air India Notice as well

Long story short, the refund will be in our account this coming week and we will be processing accordingly. It is a long drawn process, really frustrating at times but that’s the effort one has to put in to get the refund incase the airline is not doing the same.

The OTAs have revolutionised the travel industry, and many people like to use the same as they are beneficial, give deals and what not. We use their inventory many times as well as OTAs behave better with organisations which know a little better compared to directly with guests who sometimes get taken for a ride (Not saying everyone else is dumb).

Like it happened during the Icelandic volcano eruption, people who booked through actual human beings were rescued faster than people who booked through OTAs and got stuck for longer. The same thing is happening during COVID as well.


My suggestion to avoid such issues in the future:

- Looking for a deal and booking through an OTA, please check through everything and read the inclusions and exclusions.
- At the same time, compare across other platforms and Travel Agency might seem expensive but many times, they do end up adding more sightseeing/giving a better experience (Not saying that there have not been complaints raised during normal times by our existing customers, but we do try to make our guests happy to the best of our capabilities)
- Not every Travel agent is out to fleece you, but as a business, they are looking for profits as well. At the same time, one has the right to work out a best possible deal. .Share a genuine quote/offer you might have received from an OTA with a Travel Agent and they will do their best to match that quote while explaining the difference between two similar packages.
- Ultimately it’s up to the guest how they want to book. Some look for the cheapest deal, some look to pay a little more for peace of mind & a human touch. We sometimes joke that booking with our organisation is like booking Travel insurance. One never knows that they might need it until they do.


Please use the mentioned emails for DGCA & Air India to raise your complaints. DM if I can help out anyone here. Hope your loved ones are safe and sound. Take care.

[MichaelBallack]

I seem to have got lucky. Booked Aeroflot to Russia through MMT for Eurocup. Cancelled the same immediately when the tournament was postponed. Refund was credited within 3 weeks to my account.

[rbarney]

I have had many of my flights and hotel booking money completely stuck April - June being peak travel period.
1. Domestic flight - various sectors on Indigo. These flights were booked on various OTAs. Flight were cancelled, Indigo issued credit note, and Indigo has been returning the money one sector at a time without me following up. I am okay as the amount is small and the DGCA instructions are very clear that post March 31st, airlines have to return the credit shell converted into cash to original payment method.
2. Domestic flight - various sectors on GoAir. Flight were cancelled, credit shell issued, no response from GoAir and I have given up waiting for March 31.
3. International flight -- this was a pretty big sum covering two sectors - Kuwait Airways and Swiss Air. Booked through Yatra. No one was responding, all emails fell to deaf ears. Fortunately, I had booked all of these on my credit card and given I wasn't going anywhere with them for months, in August, I disputed these transactions with my bank -- HDFC. They asked a whole bunch of documents, went back and forth but mid Sept, magically, all the international flight money appeared in my card account and I got an email for each booking saying as much. Followed by another note from HDFC that my issue is resolved so closing the ticket.
4. Most of the hotel bookings were through AirBnB who refunded every single paisa immediately. Even if the bookings were non-cancellable. One boutique hotel canceled but retained the money mentioning a law in France that they don't need to return the money for 18 months and if I don't use the amount for alternate booking, they'll return at the end of the period. Not a big amount and hence not worth following up.
5. Various other bookings (activities / attractions) etc were booked directly and each one returned the money immediately -- within a couple of days of the country specific lockdown.

Bottom line, international flights -- had to dispute the transactions to get the money back, domestic flights -- Indigo has been returning the credit shell money once in a while, others -- I expect to get back end of March per DGCA note.

[Parishrut]

My sister had booked an Air Asia flight through MMT after the flights started again in May end.

Air Asia cancelled the flight. MMT was not informed. No refund was issue at that time. We call both of them and they just kept passing the buck around. This behavior was expected of MMT as I have faced extremely bad customer service from them even before the world was going through the crisis, but then my sister did not know about that. Making calls definitely did not help because neither party was ready to take responsibility and after a point it got frustrating. The amount was not huge as the rest of you here, but it was a big chunk for someone who just started earning.

After around a month passed, we knew we had to do three things:
1. Escalate on social media.
2. Persist. (no other option)
3. Have fun (because point 2 above won't last long without fun).

Tactics that we used:
1. The customer support cannot keep the phone down on you. So we would tell them to get their superior on the line, raise a new complaint, and even call up the airline on a conference. We had to do this once in 2 weeks.
2. More than calling, we would get them to confirm their replies in email, and then post screenshots of their emails and service requests (like tickets getting closed) on twitter as much as possible. We tagged everyone we could and tried to be a bit dramatic.

It took like 2 -3 months, but we got the money back, and it started with them acknowledging the issue first on social media. My learning: you cannot keep calling them if their customer service is bad. You have to figure out a way to make them call you.

The next time this happens (because it always does), I am planning to use memes to get their attention on Twitter and record their calls to upload on Youtube. And I am gonna write slightly dramatic messages on twitter. No point being just angry. Gotta add sarcasm, emotional drama, and tag all their competitors. Channel all the emotional turmoil from other parts of life here. Because if I am gonna lose my money over something, it has got to be something fun at the very least.

[jeganatu]

I had a bizarre experience during the covid times.

Having been to many countries for my sports related business trips, this time it was my first to USA. Me and my business friend from Mumbai planned for USA trip last april 2019, but postponed to 2020 March due to other business commitments.

The latest itinerary was March 17th to 24th 2020 and booked our round trip ticket costing Rs.104,000/- through Yatra in swiss airlines Bom to EWR (newark) . I am from Madurai and my business partner belongs to mumbai. So I had booked my domestic onward journey MDU-BOM in spice jet on 16th march and return journey bom-mdu in indigo on 27th march 2020.

Here come the news of Corona from early Feburary and calls in tensions from wife and family to postpone the trip. But, we as a core businessman on a positive note, both me and my friend rejected our family's pressure and was sure about completing the USA trip.

Fast forward to March, lots of development has happened around the world and comes the rumors of travel blackouts. Finally, on March 15th, 2 days prior to departure we decided to postpone. To our luck, swiss airlines on the same day cancelled Bom to Zurich and was consolidating flights between lufthansa in coming days. Swiss made various updation on Ticket status and they said free rescheduling was valid untill Dec 2021. During May- June we sent several email to yatra and swiss to refund the ticket amount. Later in September we sent another email with recent supreme court order. Finally last week an automated refund was processed and we got Rs 98,500/- a 98% refund credit in bank.

My domestic
I cancelled my onward domestic spice ticket dated 16th MDU Bom on 15th , Valued at Rs 5300 and got refund of some Rs 1350. Then came the lockdown and air travel restrictions. All flight were banned and my return bom- Mdu domestic was cancelled by airline. This ticket was fully refunded by indigo to yatra. But yatra denied to give refund and gave as cash credit. Last month with the supreme court order reference on email, made them to refund the full amount to my account.


Another trip.
This was for my dad travelling MDU to Mangalore - Mdu via indigo from March 24th to 28th. We booked though local agent. He refunded full amount in cash during May voluntarily.

[raksrules]

Did I read in this thread that airlines like Indigo and Go air have to return back the money in original form of payment post 31st March 2021? My 26K is stuck in credit shell in these airlines. Had booked through MMT.

[Pacific]

My experience started negatively with Qatar Airways and when we pressed on, it ended positively. This January, we booked return tickets for my MIL for the BLR - Boston - BLR sector for 1st May 2020. The airlines themselves cancelled the tickets and initially said we can only issue a voucher for the same amount to be used by March 2021. After multiple phone calls they agreed to refund the amount in August. I received the entire amount in the first week of Sept.

[AutoConsultant]

I got married in Feb and had a Eurotrip (Italy-Greece-France) honeymoon planned in April.

Delhi to Rome - Kuwait Airways booked via Cleartrip (40k for 2). The airline had the policy for full refund but had to go through a lot of emails with both the concerned parties. Fortunately, both of them were responsive and I got a full refund after 4 months from the planned date of departure.

Paris to Delhi - Swiss Air booked via Amex Travel (35k for 2). The airline did not have a refund policy and offered to book another flight till April 2021. I pressurised the Amex team to get me a full refund as I am not in the situation to book any international flights right now. They were extremely helpful and responsive and here also I was able to get a full refund albeit after 3 months from the actual flight date

Luckily I did not make any other travel or accomodation bookings for the trip. So in total I only lost 12k around in the Visa fees.

[one-77]

Realised it’s better to book direct with the airline instead of trying to save a few hundred bucks booking through an agent and chance losing several thousands. Amazon is probably a bit safer.
Have the following experiences:
Go Air BOM-CCJ flight in April booked through Amazon. Amount went into credit shell.
Indigo COK-BOM Flight in April booked through Amazon, refunded.
BOM-COK Air Asia and COK-BOM Indigo flight in September, booked through airlines a day before travel, seamless.
I’ve also realised that it’s best to book just a day or two before travel. Less likelihood of cancellation.
Vistara BOM-CCU return trip in October booked via Yatra. Vistara cancelled onward flight because of government regulations, Yatra had no idea.
Booked onward trip again, this time direct with Indigo and two days before the journey.
Vistara customer care has replied to my email request with issuance of a full refund for the onward tickets, but again no response to the query raised on Yatra regarding this.
Will have to take it up with my credit card company as vistara has issued a refund that Yatra hasn’t passed on. Should get my money back.
But yes, lessons learnt
- Book directly with airline
- Book as close to travel dates as possible, till normal operations resume

[F1-Addict]

I had a similar problem - But a serious hats off to Air Vistara for going out of their way and sorting the issue.

I had booked 4 tickets - Mumbai - Singapore - Mumbai for May 2020.

The booking was done via an online travel portal. It was an international one as I got a good deal in Jan'20 when I booked the tickets.

As soon as the lockdown happened I wrote to the online travel portal and there was no response. Call center - No response.

I then wrote to Air Vistara. They initially told me that a call was taken only for refund of April tickets and not May. So I would have to wait till May.

Guessing this is a standard response, I pressed on and escalated the matter within Air Vistara itself.

From here onwards the service level was EXCEPTIONAL!!! A manager got personally involved, Emailed me, called me, and kept me informed every 2 days of the status.

Finally Air Vistara confirmed to me that they have got the necessary approvals for the refund.

THis is where I hit another roadblock. As I had made the payment online on the travel portal Air Vistara also processed the refund back to the travel portal from where they got the payment.

So this was a funny situation where I managed to get the airline to process the full refund but I could not get the refund from the travel portal as they were not contactable.

So I contacted Air Vistara again.. And guess what they pushed and pushed from their end too and finally they managed to get the portal to refund the money back to my credit card.

I was truly amazed at the level of customer service by Air Vistara. They have won a customer for life.

Im sure the TATA - Singapore Air customer service protocols ensured this is the level.

Amazing.

[caffeineAM]

I had (still do) a Mumbai to Leh and back booked for May 2020 directly with GoAir. They say they will hold the PNR for a year. I doubt anything will change drastically by then.

[mukkavil]

Hi all,
Just to add to Rajiv 0909, I was rudely made aware of Air India rule that if one leg of your domestic reservation is cancelled, the rest of the journey TKT is also cancelled. Also, the traveller has to raise refund request if booked by Air India by send email as specified. It will not be refunded by Air India automatically!

[ShankarG]

HI all. I have a situation and need information to connect with Makemytrip (MMT). I had an air ticket for family from Go Air booked via MMT for a travel in August. Go Air cancelled this flight and they have now refunded my entire amount to MMT. MMT's self booking help says request in progress for over 2 months now and there is no way to raise a service request.

Now the issue is that I am not able to connect with MMT via. any medium. i have tried the following without any success.
- Their call center is redirecting me to the app / website and there is no option of speaking to an agent.
- The app / website is redirecting me to a stupid chatbot which is of zero use. No one has bothered to attend.
- I have dropped them 5-7 emails but there is only automated response. which again takes me back to the same self help menu (that is useless)
- have tried reaching them through facebook but they are not responding even there.
- Left a bad review on play store. No one came back :(


Has anyone figured out a way to connect with the Makemytrip team? My money has been refunded but is stuck with MMT? If there is a different email ID to escalate things to their management, please share.

Also, none of the travel booking portals are refunding the credit card booking charge even if the flight was non operational.

FYI - I am a double black customer for Makemytrip and looks like they have blacklisted me