Govt Directs Airlines, Railways To Give Full Refund For Tickets Booked During Lockdown; All You Need To Know

Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday released a directive for airline companies to refund the money of those who booked tickets for domestic or international travel, during the first phase of Coronavirus Lockdown.

(Representational Image: AFP)

New Delhi: Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday released a directive for airline companies to refund the money of those who booked tickets for domestic or international travel, during the first phase of Coronavirus Lockdown. The Ministry released a statement in which it acknowledged that the extended lockdown has caused inconvenience to several travelers who are now seeking a refund as all the travel operations were once again banned when the Lockdown was extended on Tuesday, seeing the rise in Covid-19 cases. Their statement clearly states that if a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period (from 25th March to 14th April, 2020) to travel during the same period and the airline received payment for the booking. The Airline has to refund the full amount collected, without deducting any cancellation charges,  within a period of three weeks from the date of request of cancellation. In the same way, a full refund has to be given to those who booked a ticket (and paid for it) during the period of the first lockdown to travel after the first lockdown was supposed to end i.e. April 14.

If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first phase of lockdown period (25th March-14th April), the airline shall refund the full amount; refund to be made within a period of 3 weeks from date of request of cancellation: Ministry of Civil Aviation pic.twitter.com/SCOF43MmJN

— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2020

Previously, Indian Railways had also announced that ₹1,490 crores will be refunded towards the cancellation of 94 lakh ticket bookings made by passengers before the nationwide lockdown was imposed. An amount of ₹830 crore will be refunded for the 55 lakh bookings made for travel between March 22 and April 14. It added that ₹660 crore will be returned for around 39 lakh bookings made for travel between April 15 and May 3. The Railways have clearly stated that all passengers will get a full refund for tickets booked. The money will be automatically refunded to online customers, while those who booked tickets at designated reservation counters can claim the refund till July 31. Ticket booking will remain shut until further notice, all the counters for booking of train tickets, whether reserved or unreserved, will remain closed both on railway stations and outside the station premises. Watch: Passenger train services not to resume till May 3 amid lockdown