Airlines body IATA suspends Jet Airways from clearing house membership; move to impact refund to passengers

Mumbai: International airlines lobby IATA on Thursday suspended membership of the grounded Jet Airways of its clearing house system, a move that is likely to impact the refund process to passengers. The suspension of membership, which comes in the wake of the airline halting operations temporarily from last night, is with immediate effect, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a circular. [caption id=“attachment_6478521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An empty front desk is seen inside the Jet Airways headquarters in Mumbai. Reuters[/caption] “Consequently, claims by and against Jet Airways will not be processed by the clearing house with effect from and period 02 of the April 2019 clearing month,” the association said, adding however, those claims already submitted for clearance are excluded. “Jet Airways has been suspended from the IATA Settlement Systems following the airlines announcement of the temporary suspension of flight operations,” later IATA said in a statement. Jet Airways had been participating in over 73 Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) and 19 Cargo Accounts Settlement Systems (CASS) around the world, it said. Passengers who purchased Jet Airways tickets through IATA accredited travel agents are advised to submit their refund through the IATA accredited travel agent they bought their tickets from, as soon as possible, IATA said adding the travel agent will then liaise with IATA and Jet Airways to process the refund.