Govt asks travel aggregators to disburse pending refunds to customers for travel plans cancelled due to COVID pandemic

Union Government has asked travel aggregators to disburse pending refunds to customers by the 3rd week of November for travel plans which were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. The Department of Consumer Affairs held a meeting with online travel aggregators to discuss consumer-related issues, with representatives from travel platforms like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, ClearTrip etc. in attendance.

The government highlighted the issue of non-refund of booking amounts for tickets cancelled due to the COVID-induced lockdown period. The department pointed out that refunds are still pending despite an October 2020 Supreme Court order mandating full refunds for tickets booked during the lockdown period for travel within that same period.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had taken suo-moto note of the issue and issued notice to 6 online travel platforms: EaseMyTrip, Yatra, MakeMyTrip, HappyEasyGo, ClearTrip & Ixigo and 5 travel agencies: Thomas Cook, Kesari Tours, Veena World, Neem Holidays & Mango Holidays. Additionally, failure to refund the booking amount may lead to contempt action against the travel platforms for noncompliance with the apex court order.