The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the scheme by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to refund money for air tickets booked during the Covid-19 lockdown. This means that if a passenger had booked a ticket during lockdown from 25 March to 24 May, for domestic or international travel during this period, the airline will have to refund the full amount collected without any cancellation charges. The refund will have to be made within three weeks from the date of cancellation.
For the tickets booked during lockdown through a travel agent, for travel during the above-mentioned period, the full refund is to be given by airlines to the agents, which should be immediately passed on to the passengers. However, for passengers who booked tickets at any period but for travel after 24 May, the airfare refund to passengers will be governed by provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR).
Airlines will have to try and refund all amount collected from passengers within 15 days. In case of financial distress, airlines can provide a credit shell equal to the fare collected. Passengers can reschedule their travel using this credit shell. If passengers don’t reschedule their flights by 31 March 2021, airlines will have to refund them the entire amount with interest. Passengers are entitled to get 0.5% monthly interest on paid airfare from the date of the cancelled flight to 30 June 2020, and 0.75% monthly interest from 30 June 2020 to 31 March 2021.
The top court passed these orders on a batch of petitions by Pravasi Legal Cell and others, seeking full refund of tickets for flights cancelled due to the lockdown.
