During the second wave of Corona, many people had to cancel their travel plans. Then many people had also complained that they were facing a problem in canceling the ticket. Be it hotels, travel agents, or airlines, there were complaints about refunds from all. Some got the amount refunded to some extent, while they offered the rest to book again. Meanwhile, local circles have received various feedbacks from people asking for better arrangements for cancellation charges for airlines, trains, hotels, etc till the pandemic persists.
To test the seriousness of the matter, local circles took feedback from people who canceled travel during the second wave. In which about 37 thousand people from 359 districts of the country gave their opinion. They found that in the second wave, for people who canceled flight tickets in the summer, Only 12% of them got full refunds from airlines or travel agents. In such a situation, 90% of the citizens want that as long as the epidemic is going on, they should make a special policy for travel booking refunds. But in this survey, only 5% of the people were satisfied with the existing travel booking refund policy.
What was the procedure for canceling the flight tickets booked for the summer?
12% travel agent/airline refund full money.
12% travel agent/airline refund only some amount.
4% travel agent/airline refunded a small amount.
24% travel agent/airline did not make any refund, booked tickets for a different date.
32% of travel agents/airlines refunded nothing, and we lost the entire ticket amount.
16% can’t tell.
What should be the system for a faster refund if the journey is canceled due to covid risk or restrictions?
Get a 3% instant refund. Up to 50% deducted on processing charges.
21% refund within a week. 20% reduction in processing charges.
30% Monthly Refund. 10% reduction in processing charges.
6% Refund within 6 months. 5% deduction from processing charges.
21% refund not received but full amount voucher for travel anytime in next two years.
Create a new model of an 8% refund.
The existing system of 5% refund is correct.
7% can’t tell.
After the opinion received from the survey, the local circles have demanded from the central government that in view of the concern of the people, various ministries should see how a special refund policy can be made for the period of the epidemic because people are considering the experience of refund. Fearing the third wave, they are hesitant to make their travel plans.
