The ministry has written to companies such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, Thomas Cook and Cleartrip and industry bodies including Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), stating there is an “urgent need” to bring in transparency in the cancellation refund process.
ET has seen a copy of the letter dated October 15.
The matter was deliberated at the level of inter-ministerial consultation between the ministries of tourism and civil aviation in the presence of leading OTAs and travel agents, and it was decided that all the OTAs and agencies selling air tickets through online portals must evolve SoPs for handling cancellation refunds, it said.
As per the letter, SoPs should highlight the cancellation policy and timeline for cancellation refunds and they should be uploaded and shown prominently on the OTAs’ portals.
The portals should make it mandatory for the customers to confirm or accept the provisions of the SoPs. “The compliance of the same should be sent to the ministry at the earliest,” the letter said. A tourism ministry official familiar with the matter said the issue is grave as a huge amount of money is involved. An official from one of the companies cited in the letter acknowledged its receipt but stressed that airlines are the primary parties responsible for disbursal of refunds.
“Once the bookings are made on our platform, the amount goes to the airlines. In cases of cancellation of flights, or changes in schedules, we can only reimburse customers after we get the refunds from airlines. There are multiple issues with the process,” he told ET.
Rajiv Mehra, president of IATO, said it is a good step taken by the ministry. “If there are cancellations, refunds should be given as per industry practices,” he said. “For domestic bookings, refunds should not take more than 15 days, and for international trips, refunds should not exceed 30-45 days. This is a step in the right direction.”
