New Delhi: India’s consumer affairs ministry is swooping into the civil aviation space to take on a vexing problem affecting thousands of flyers every year: delayed refunds.
Air passengers with legitimate claims to refunds on their airfares are often tossed around between airlines and ticketing agencies to get back their money. The ministry wants to break this by holding airlines accountable and enforcing penalties under the Consumer Protection Act 2019, two officials told Mint.
Earlier, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a regulatory body established under the Act, had helped facilitate refunds totalling ₹1,453 crore on air tickets booked via travel aggregators such as Yatra, MakeMyTrip, ClearTrip, EaseMyTrip, Ixigo and Thomas Cook, as Mint reported on 10 March.
To be sure, the consumer affairs ministry plans holding consultations with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the ministry of civil aviation to hasten processing of such refunds, one of the officials said.
“This initiative is crucial for consumers as many struggle a lot to get their money back after flights get cancelled or delayed, often facing an annoying cycle of excuses from airlines,” this official said.
“It’s one of the top priorities of the ministry of civil aviation and the ministry is working towards a structured solution,” civil aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam told Mint in an emailed reply.
The consumer affairs ministry and the director general of civil aviation did not reply to queries emailed on 23 August. Emails sent to IndiGo and Vistara on 25 August remained unanswered.
Rules in place, but…
As per the DGCA’s guidelines, airlines are required to issue refunds within seven working days for tickets booked through credit or debit cards, and within 30 working days for cash transactions.
If flight tickets are booked through travel agents or online travel platforms, airlines must process the refund to the agent or platform within seven working days, after which the agent or platform is responsible for refunding the passenger.
But the consumer affairs ministry was impelled to address the issue of delayed refunds on airfares after reviewing complaints mounting at the National Consumer Helpline, a government-sponsored platform that provides assistance and guidance to consumers in resolving complaints related to goods and services.
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Air passengers can also register their complaints or grievances online with AirSewa, a ministry of civil aviation platform.
While officials did not share the exact number of complaints against airlines over refunds, they indicated that it was a significant number.
“The (consumer affairs) ministry will issue notices through its regulatory body—the Central Consumer Protection Authority—and penalties would be imposed as per the provisions of the CPA 2019 if airlines fail to adhere to the ticket refund norms,” said the second official.
“There is no need to bring any guidelines. The CPA has enough provisions to penalise the errant violators.”
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 empowers the CCPA to impose penalties of up to ₹50 lakh for violations of consumer rights.
Over the past two years, the authority has imposed penalties amounting to more than ₹1 crore across various cases involving misleading advertisements, unfair practices, dark patterns, false claims, etc.
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Taking on a ‘nexus’
“The CCPA has the authority to enforce consumer rights on a broader scale. Despite clear directives from the Supreme Court, airlines and booking agents and platforms continue to act slow,” said Bishwajit Dubey, a senior advocate and an expert on international trade laws.
“The CCPA’s move to issue notices and impose penalties on airlines for delays in refunding booking amounts will significantly strengthen consumer trust in the authority.”
Consumer rights advocacy experts said the consumer affairs ministry decision to take up the cause of air passengers was a move in the right direction.
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“It’s not just the airlines that are solely responsible for the apathy. There is a big ‘nexus’ among travel aggregators, booking platforms, airlines…,” said Ashim Sanyal, chief operating officer, Consumer VOICE, a consumer advocacy group.
India’s domestic airline market has grown to become the world’s third-largest, up from its fifth position a decade ago, as per an analysis based on Official Airline Guide data. India’s domestic airline passenger capacity has doubled over the past decade, increasing from 7.9 million in April 2014 to 15.5 million in April 2024, the data show.
The US, with an airline capacity of 86.1 million, and China, with 67.8 million, continue to dominate the top two positions. At fourth position is Brazil, with a capacity of 9.7 million, followed by Indonesia with 9.2 million.
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