Responding to a series of tweets from popular radio journalist Neelesh Misra on being refunded just ₹32 when he cancelled a ₹6,010 single trip air ticket, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha on Monday said the government would soon formulate a Passenger Charter.
“Here is the latest airline scam. Cancel a 6,000-rupee ticket and get 32 rupees as refund. I didn’t cancel it. You can keep the change, @IndiGo6E Anyone can do what they want, consumers be damned. @jayantsinha “, Mr Misra, a popular radio story teller and podcaster tweeted on Sunday tagging the Minister in his tweet about the incident. The popular radio story teller and podcaster had cancelled his ticket around 8.15 a.m., a few hours before his 10.45 a.m. flight on Sunday.
As the issue snowballed on social media, Mr Misra and other travellers flagged the opaque processes faced by passengers and the blame game between the airline and the travel portal on which he had booked the ticket. “Mystery deepens. Conflicting calls from @makemytrip + @IndiGo6E Indigo says they charge 3,000 cancellation fee. MMT says Indigo kept 5,800 in cancelled 6,000 ticket. Who’s taking thousands of consumers’ cancellation money?” Mr Misra tweeted.
Responding to the incident, Mr Sinha said refund rules and booking charges etc. would soon be provided in ‘black and white’ through the Passenger Charter to help travellers.
“We are going to address these matters through the Passenger Charter. A draft will soon be released for public consultation. Airlines and travel agents have to provide full details on cancellation and other charges before you book any flight. If you have been charged without full disclosure, then you can file you complaint on AirSewa with necessary evidence.”
Responding to queries from The Hindu, an Indigo spokesperson said the airline was not in the picture as the ticket had been booked and later cancelled on the travel portal itself. “As the passenger had entered the no-show period of booking, there was no scope for a refund,” an airline official said.
On Monday evening a customer care executive from MakeMytrip wrote to Mr. Misra saying, “When you attempted the cancellation at 8.13 a.m., the ticket was already in the no-show window. This information is clearly mentioned in our e-ticket. The charges shown to you was what we received from the airlines considering booking was under no-show.”
