Air India bonanza | Now, reschedule tickets booked for travel during lockdown at no extra cost, or get full refund

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In a first for any airline, Air India has allowed passengers, who had booked to travel during the lockdown before flights got cancelled, to use the same tickets now to fly till August 24.

In a communication on May 31, the national airline informed that fliers will be allowed to reschedule their flights at no extra costs. Moreover, the flier won't even need to pay the difference, if any, in the fare.

In case the passenger wants a refund, the amount will be returned to the customer without any cancellation charges.

On the other hand, if the flier wants to change the route, then only 'the rerouting charges will be waived...but an applicable difference of fare will be charged,' the airline said in the communication.

This is the first time that a domestic airline has allowed passengers to use tickets booked to travel during the lockdown period, from March 25 to May 31.

Till now, the airlines had taken resort to the DGCA circular, which had asked the carriers to refund only those tickets that were booked during the first lockdown - from March 25 to April 14. And these were for tickets for travel till May 3.

For any other ticket, airlines had offered to keep the ticket fare in a credit shell, which could be used later to reschedule the travel. None allowed any refunds. Later, IndiGo and AirAsia India had allowed refunds. 

The step by Air India is executed to improve demand sentiment, which had been soft despite the government opening up the skies from May 25. Though initially, the traffic loads were in the range of 50 to 55 percent, within days, these fell to below 40 percent.

"According to us, Air India would be having tickets worth Rs 500 crore lying unused. We expect up to 80 percent of the people to opt for refunds, and the rest, who would have booked tickets in low/sales fare, will keep their ticket open for use," said Nishant Pitti, CEO, EaseMyTrip.com

If not for the incentive, nearly 100 percent of the passengers would have opted for a refund, he added.

"This will give positive sentiment to travel, for customers of the national carrier, even though the refund time is bit higher," said Pitti.

Airlines had resumed flights on May 25, with one-third of their summer schedule. This arrangement is till August 24, after which the government will take stock again.