Indian travel agents are a worried lot. Already reeling under severe financial losses caused due to covid-19 pandemic, delay in refund of airfares is further escalating their troubles.
“We as travel agents don’t have money to protect our own extended families, our employees and the airlines are refusing to refund our rightful money. The airlines did not give the agents any ease to defer their IATA payments to a later date. Even in these difficult times, our members have had to transfer the money to them on time or be punished by being labelled as defaulters,” said Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).
“The government certainly needs to protect our money from airlines. They need to underwrite our losses if any airline delays our refunds or any airline defaults. The business has to be a two-way street not one-sided. They should only allow those carriers to operate who give financial guarantees to transact business in our country,” added Mayal.
The Supreme Court of India on June 12, 2020, had asked Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to work out a solution for the refund of airfares to passengers but the airlines are still to follow the directives.
Mayal shared that some member travel agents of the association had to pay their clients from their own pockets though the association has advised its members against the practice. Airlines on their end instead of providing a full refund of the amount collected for the tickets are providing a credit shell to travel agents.
“We have to make refunds to our clients even when we are not receiving it from airlines. Many international airlines are taking 3 to 4 months to clear refunds after charging hefty penalties. The domestic airlines are mostly giving credit shells in passengers’ names or in travel agents’ login IDs which can be used only against future tickets. It is creating a huge cash flow problem for us,” said Pradip Lulla, Acting President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).
IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India to expedite refunds for ticket cancellations.
“We have already requested aviation regulators to direct airlines for a full refund of all tickets issued before and after March 24 for the flights that were supposed to operate and canceled due to coronavirus situation, travel restrictions and lockdowns,” said Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI.