For passengers who are awaiting refunds on flight tickets that were booked for travel during the lockdown and got cancelled, the Supreme Court (SC) mandated deadline to the airlines for issuing such refunds expires next week. Between March 25 and May 24, 2020, flights were cancelled and the airlines had transferred the amount to a credit shell.
An SC order had stated that the refund amount can be held in a credit shell till March 31, 2021 and if the passenger doesn’t utilise it by this date, then the airlines have to give the refund in cash. A credit shell is a credit note created against a cancelled PNR and can be used by the passenger for a future booking.
For international bookings involving foreign carriers, the amount was to be refunded to the passenger within 15 days of the court’s order in October by the airline/travel agency concerned.
For international bookings involving foreign carriers, the amount was to be refunded to the passenger within 15 days of the court’s order in October by the airline/travel agency concerned.
The SC had also said in its order that the value of an air ticket refunded through credit shell vouchers will be increased by 0.50% per month (6% per annum) till June 30, 2020, and thereafter by 0.75% per month (9% per annum) till March 31, 2021. The SC added that only airlines in financial distress could issue credit shell vouchers till March-end.
In December last year, the government claimed that the airlines had refunded nearly 75% of such tickets.
IndiGo has stated that since the resumption of operations in May 2020, it has been rapidly refunding amounts owed to customers whose flights were cancelled during the lockdown. The airline says it has processed close to Rs 1030 crore of refunds, which amounts to about 99.95% of the total amount owed to its customers. The pending credit shells are mostly cash transactions where IndiGo is awaiting bank transfer details from the customers.
24/03/21 News Minute
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