In April, the government had advised the airlines to give full refunds to the passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown for domestic and international flights canceled at that period. And as a relief to the passengers, Indigo and AirAsia have started refunding their passengers for tickets that were booked on flights during the lockdown.
But, there is no clarity regarding the time to be taken to redeem the credit shells issued to passengers, who booked flights and were canceled during lockdown which was announced by the government. Nishal Pitti, CEO and Co-founder of Easemytrip.com said that “All passengers – booked on AirAsia and IndiGo – who want a refund instead of credit shell would be refunded and we have started refunding money to customers in their bank account, as these airlines have also started refunding us,”
A Credit shell is a credit note created against a canceled PNR to be used for a future booking for the same passengers. A credit shell can be valid for one year from the date of issuance. Customers can use the credit shell to pay for a fresh booking within a stipulated time frame. Customers now can easily make an online booking using a credit shell by searching the flight of their choice and choosing the credit shell option from the Payment page. And then, by providing their contact number and getting an OTP confirmation they can redeem their money.
It is estimated that all airlines have issued credit shells amounting to about Rs 6,000 crore against tickets canceled during the 2 months of lockdown. And airlines have not given any word on how long will it deem them to refund those credit shells.
As, Indigo, the largest carrier in terms of market share has started refunding, other airlines may follow suit. All those passengers who bought their tickets through an agent need to apply to the agent for a refund. The airlines, however, said that it will take time till all credit shells issued within the past are going to be redeemed.
The Government has already allowed the domestic airlines to start their operations from Monday this week and all airlines have been operating flights as per their schedule with minimal cancellation. But Indigo has not canceled any flights during the first three days of operation. Only due to the order of government cancellations have happened.
