Travel agents shall issue refunds only after they receive the same from airlines: TAAI

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has said that all refunds/credits/vouchers shall be given to customers only after agents receive the same from airlines and IATA (International Air Transport Association). TAAI argues that member agents have been left in the lurch by airlines that are non-committal on the refund amount and date, and have also disabled the refund mechanism on GDS systems. “We state that, the travel agents/tour operators have paid 100% to the airlines, for all tickets that have been issued, till date. Our member agents want to process the refunds, for the tickets issued by them for their customers, but majority of IATA member airlines, have disabled the refunding mechanism on the GDS systems for agents. Agents are now required to manually process refunds through Refund Authority with IATA, whereby the airlines are being non-committal on the date and amount of repayment of airfare. Most low-cost carriers (LCCs) too are not refunding the airfares and are creating a credit shell favouring the passenger, to be used for future dates.” With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, air passenger transport in India and globally has come to a complete halt. This has resulted in air ticketing agents and package tour operators being the worst hit as intermediary between airlines and customers, and struggle with en masse cancellations. Amid the nationwide lockdown enforced by governments to arrest spread of COVID-19, customers are cancelling bookings and claiming refunds for services and products to be unutilised by them, and use the capital as a safety measure to cope with the global recession that has set in To address the refund claims, TAAI has raised strong objections with all airlines, as well as with IATA. “We have asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to direct the airlines to refund all monies. Most airlines are offering credit vouchers in the name of the passengers which are valid for 365days and a couple of them are offering credit vouchers for up to 760 days. Further, additional funds of the agents are blocked with the airlines which have been paid by way of advances in float accounts of low-cost carriers operating in India,” Mayal added. According to Jay Bhatia, Vice President, TAAI, if the situation starts resuming to normal after April 15 when restrictions, hopefully are lifted, the refund process, if authorised by the airlines, may take from 15 days to at least 3 months, depending on the airline and how the situation across the globe remains. “Currently, most of the airlines are not giving waivers on the cancellation charges. They are not refunding the amounts in cash. They are only giving credit vouchers favouring the passenger, whereby name change shall not be permitted. During this time difficult time of survival, we are working closely with MoCA and IATA daily, to find a suitable solution, to resolve the refund issue, in the interest of the passenger, along with support from Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH).” Bhatia stated that they have told their members to inform and assure customers who desire to refund their tickets, that they shall be updated as soon as cash refunds/credits/vouchers are received from the respective airlines/IATA, for the tickets issued.