Jet Airways crisis: Delhi High Court issues notice to cash-strapped airline seeking full refund of airfare to passengers

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Jet Airways seeking a full refund of airfare to passengers affected by the suspension of Jet Airways operations. The cash-strapped airline suspended operations on 17 April after it did not receive a loan of about Rs 1,500 crore as part of a rescue deal with government-owned lenders.

Delhi High Court issues notice to Jet Airways in a plea seeking full refund of airfare to passengers affected by the suspension of Jet Airways services. Court has also sought reply from DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation. Next date of hearing is 16th July. pic.twitter.com/VYx2qR4Cpb

— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

The plea, filed by activist Bejon Kumar Misra, said the sudden suspension of air services of Jet Airways has resulted in a major crisis for the passengers who were not informed about it earlier. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice AJ Bhambhani sought a response from Jet Airways and also asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file an affidavit on the issue. The high court said it will hear the matter after summer vacation and posted the matter for 16 July. The application had sought direction to the ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to adopt prompt redressal mechanism for all affected passengers to access full refund of air tickets with reasonable compensation or arrange an alternative mode of travel for them to reach their destination as an emergency exercise.

The plea, filed through advocates Shashank Deo Sudhi and Shashi Bhushan, said: “It is common knowledge that all competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased their airfares and the toothless and vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money, but also in terms of mental harassment of unprecedented scale.”

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Citing media report, it said more than Rs 360 crore of the passengers/consumers’ hard earned money is under threat due to non-refund of ticket value. “The passengers have to not only purchase alternative tickets at highly exorbitant cost, but also go through lots of anxieties and mental agony. This has resulted in profiteering by other airlines at the cost of the passengers and till date no relief has been announced by the respondents (Ministry and DGCA). [caption id=“attachment_6478521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An empty front desk is seen inside the Jet Airways headquarters in Mumbai. Reuters[/caption] “It is on record that such a situation was existing for more than two years, but was intentionally allowed by the authorities without any concern for passengers and other affected parties,” the plea claimed. On 25 April, Jet Airways said that it will validate claims for flight ticket refunds within 45 days, a media report said. According to Mint, Jet Airways told travel agents that a web interface has been provided to agencies to submit refund applications. The airline added that the claims can be submitted till 20 May. Travel agents can submit a refund application through the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) portal. A mail sent to travel agents by the airline also said that refunds for tickets bought through credit cards will be validated by Jet Airways and credit card companies each Monday, the report said. Jet Airways has, however, not given any specific timeline for disbursal of the refunds, said Financial Express report. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani, however, remarked that “it (plea) is filed only for publicity, come on 1 May”. --With PTI inputs