A week after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed the Supreme Court that airlines will give full refunds to passengers who booked tickets during the first and second lockdown, which had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, consumer body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), also party to the plea, will be seeking clarifications on certain pointers mentioned in the aviation regulator’s affidavit. The hearing of the plea is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

According to MGP, senior citizens should not be asked to use credit shells, and airlines should not ask passengers to pay the fare difference and instead be allowed to fly on the original ticket price till March 2021. A credit shell is an open ticket, issued when an airline holds on to the booking amount in the form of credit.

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“On the whole, the proposal of the civil aviation ministry is welcome as it tries to harmonise and balance the interest of both passengers and the airlines. There is, however, a need for further relief. The ministry must direct that senior citizens need not use this credit shell. In the present situation, senior citizens are advised not to travel and hence it will be in consonance with government policy to direct airlines to refund the ticket amounts to senior citizens forthwith. There’s also a need to protect these passengers against the possible fare hike and they should be allowed to travel till March 31 on the same fare,” said advocate Shirish Deshpande, chairman, MGP. “Further, the government must make it clear that in no circumstances, can the credit shell period can be extended beyond March 31, 2021.”

This comes after DGCA, in its affidavit to the SC, stated that tickets booked for domestic and international carriers between March 25 and May 3 will be fully refunded within 15 days. DGCA’s affidavit also stated that “If on account of financial distress, if the airlines are not able to do so, they shall provide a credit shell equal to the amount of fare collected. This credit shell shall be issued in the name of the passenger who has booked the ticket.”

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The affidavit also stated that passengers will be able to use the credit shell up to March 31, 2021 and change the flight sector. This means that a passenger booked on a Mumbai- Indore flight can change his/ her sector and fly to any other destination till March 2021.

This is after an order was issued by SC on June 13 asking private airlines and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to find a way to refund the airfare of passengers whose flights were cancelled during the lockdown. It was then the meetings were held with all the stakeholders in July and it was decided that tickets booked directly by passengers during lockdown 1 and 2 will be fully refunded.

A former DGCA official said, “Which airline is doing financially well with this pandemic? Why will an airline provide a refund when they can state that they are currently financially unstable and hence cannot provide a refund?”