The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) initiated a suo moto action against the online ticket booking platform ‘Yatra’ for non-refund of airline tickets cancelled due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
A show-cause notice vide dated 09.03.2021 was sent to Yatra Online Limited regarding the pendency of refunds of bookings which got affected by COVID-19.
According to the information shared by CCPA, from July 8, 2021, to June 25, 2024, the authority conducted several hearings to address issues regarding nonrefund of airline tickets cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
As a result of these efforts, Yatra Online Limited made significant progress in reducing the total number of pending refund bookings.
In 2021, there were 36,276 pending bookings amounting to ₹26,25,82,484. As of June 21, 2024, this number has been significantly reduced to 4,837 bookings, amounting to ₹2,52,87,098. Yatra has refunded approximately 87% amount to consumers and further endeavour to refund approximately 13% amount to consumers to ensure that all pending refunds are processed promptly and efficiently by airlines.
In 2021, there were a total of 5,771 bookings pertaining to airlines pending refunds amounting to ₹9,60,14,463. By 2024, Yatra has reduced the pendency of airlines to 98 bookings with an outstanding amount of ₹31,79,069.
CCPA vide order dated 27.06.2024 directed 22 remaining airlines of Yatra to expeditiously refund ₹31,79,069 to consumers.
During the proceedings held before CCPA, several other travel platforms like MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, ClearTrip, Ixigo and Thomas Cook have refunded the entire amount to Consumers whose tickets got affected due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
To further facilitate the timely processing of refunds to consumers, CCPA issued an order on June 27, 2024, wherein it directed Yatra to set up dedicated arrangements at the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).
Specifically, Yatra is required to allocate five exclusive seats at NCH for making calls to the remaining 4,837 passengers informing them that their pending refunds due to COVID-19 lockdown-related flight cancellations will be processed, CCPA said.
The costs incurred on engaging these five dedicated personnel will be fully covered by Yatra with payments made directly to the agency managed by NCH.