Online travel companies told to make SOPs for refund process

New Delhi: The union tourism ministry has directed online travel agents (OTAs) and business our bodies to develop customary working procedures (SoPs) and clear insurance policies to course of refunds, to handle widespread complaints from travellers about irregularities and transparency points in air ticket cancellation refunds.

The ministry has written to corporations akin to MakeMyTrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, Thomas Cook and Cleartrip and business our bodies together with Indian Affiliation of Tour Operators (IATO) and Journey Brokers Affiliation of India (TAAI), stating there may be an “pressing want” to herald transparency within the cancellation refund process.

ET has seen a replica of the letter dated October 15.

The matter was deliberated on the stage of inter-ministerial session between the ministries of tourism and civil aviation within the presence of main OTAs and journey brokers, and it was determined that each one the OTAs and companies promoting air tickets by means of on-line portals should evolve SoPs for dealing with cancellation refunds, it stated.

As per the letter, SoPs ought to spotlight the cancellation coverage and timeline for cancellation refunds and they need to be uploaded and proven prominently on the OTAs’ portals.

The portals ought to make it necessary for the purchasers to verify or settle for the provisions of the SoPs. “The compliance of the identical needs to be despatched to the ministry on the earliest,” the letter stated. A tourism ministry official aware of the matter stated the problem is grave as an enormous sum of money is concerned. An official from one of many corporations cited within the letter acknowledged its receipt however burdened that airways are the first events answerable for disbursal of refunds.

“As soon as the bookings are made on our platform, the quantity goes to the airways. In circumstances of cancellation of flights, or adjustments in schedules, we will solely reimburse clients after we get the refunds from airways. There are a number of points with the method,” he advised ET.

Rajiv Mehra, president of IATO, stated it’s a good step taken by the ministry. “If there are cancellations, refunds needs to be given as per business practices,” he stated. “For home bookings, refunds shouldn’t take greater than 15 days, and for worldwide journeys, refunds shouldn’t exceed 30-45 days. It is a step in the suitable route.”