A few days ago, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) asked airlines to issue a full refund to customers seeking cancellation of flight tickets booked during the coronavirus lockdown. The guidelines issued to airlines says that no cancellation charge will be levied on the cancelled tickets.
The advisory was issued after several people complained on social media about their ordeal with domestic airlines who decided not to give refund in cash for cancelled flights due to the lockdown and instead issue credit shell for future travel.
The guidelines by ministry said that any ticket booked between the lockdown period of March 25 to May 3 are entitled to get full refund without any cancellation charges.
This, however, was an ambiguous ruling as the cancellations doesn't apply to tickets booked before the lockdown for the travel period between the lockdown or after the lockdown.
The airline pricing system works on a 'dynamic' method meaning the ticket pricing depends on how early you are able to book the ticket. A lot of air travelers, hence book their air tickets well in advance. While the average time frame in which most of the tickets are booked ranges between 15 days to 1 month, airlines open bookings for flights as early as six months before the departure.
Nobody, in this scenario, would have known about the lockdown that was announced by PM Modi on March 24 at 8 PM and was implemented 4 hours later.
Aren't the airlines then responsible for refunding the full amount to passengers? While airlines are saying that the amount is secure as a credit shell for at least an year, this means passengers have to travel in the same airline within the stipulated time of credit shell to utilize the amount they have already spent.
Also factor in the fact that a vaccine that can stop COVID-19 from spreading is yet to be developed and the scientists working on the development have announced that it will take at least an year, year and a half for the vaccine to be out in the market for general public use. Until that happens, government will discourage non-essential travel, which means, it's highly unlikely that people will travel for leisure activities.
And the ones who are traveling for business related activities always prefer suitable timing over the pricing. What if they are unable to find a suitable flight timing in the air carrier their money is 'secured' under credit shell? Bounding them to travel on the same airline to utilize credit shell is, in this case, immoral.
A plea was recently filed in the Supreme Court by the NGO, Pravasi Legal Cell seeking clarity on the refund of amount for all air passengers who want to cancel their flight tickets due to lockdown.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana, S K Kaul and B R Gavai, which heard the matter through video-conferencing, issued notices to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the plea which has urged the court to declare the alleged action of airlines of not refunding entire value of cancelled air tickets as violative of the civil aviation requirement issued by the authority.
According to the plea, airlines not providing the full refund are in clear violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement of May 2008 issued by the DGCA which 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 Civil Aviation Requirement of May 2008 sets a limit of 30 working days for airlines to complete the refund process for tickets booked through travel agents/portals, and 7 days for tickets booked directly from airlines.
The plea also says that leaving out the passengers who booked their tickets before lockdown is an unequal treatment - "leaving out people who booked tickets prior to lockdown but the flights cancelled due to lockdown amounts to treating equals unequally and thus the same is in clear violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution."
Surely the aviation industry is going through its worse time since 9/11 and grounded flights mean no money made, still, holding money of passengers is both morally and legally wrong.
With inputs from PTI.
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