Cancellation is a pain for Online Bookings

If you ever decide to book an air ticket online using a credit card, ensure that your travel plan remains unchanged. A 60-year-old Delhi travel agent learnt this the hard way. He was denied refund of an air ticket, which he tried to cancel just three minutes after booking it. To be fair, the airline had clearly mentioned a non-refund clause on its website. "My client suddenly faced financial problems. I called up and mailed the airline offices immediately, and also went to meet the management personally," the travel agent said. He has been trying to get a refund for four months now. On the stringent policy, a spokesperson of the airline said: "Once you book, you can't get out of it. If his client is not paying, that is not our problem." Elsewhere, in Mumbai, a 37-year-old mediaperson said he booked and then cancelled a ticket online, a month ago. While it too had a non-refund clause, he was entitled to refund of taxes and fuel surcharge. He is still waiting. "Online refund would take two to three weeks," said a spokesperson of the airline. Technically, at least 24 to 48 hours are required to process an online refund transaction, where it gets credited to the card account. Nutan Lugani of the National Consumer Helpline, a project of the ministry of consumer affairs, said in reality, it takes longer.

A 35-year-old Delhi executive, who cancelled her Delhi-Patna air ticket two weeks ago, is yet to get her refund. In December 2005, recalls consumer activist Jehangir Gai, a 56-year-old Mumbai businessman challenged a non-refund clause of an international airline by filing a petition in the high court. It immediately paid up the amount and the consumer withdrew the case. "The airline should at least refund the Airport Authority of India's tax component as the airport services are not availed of," Gai said. But before moving court, said T K Datta, a member of the National Consumer Helpline, a consumer must first approach the civil aviation department. Not all tickets though come with a non-refund clause. While most airlines return online bookings on the internet itself, some like Jet Airways do not. Passengers cannot cancel, refund or change travel dates on the internet; they must approach Jet Airways' ticket offices. Some like low-cost carrier SpiceJet do not refund the money at all—the airline makes a credit shell of the booking amount, minus Rs 600, which the passenger can use for any SpiceJet flight in the next one year.

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