The government on Wednesday directed online travel aggregators to process pending refunds related to air ticket bookings during the coronavirus lockdown period by the third week of November. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there was a nationwide lockdown for varying periods starting from March 25, 2020, and scheduled commercial flight services were also suspended for a certain period.

On Wednesday, the Consumer Affairs Ministry held a meeting with online travel aggregators to discuss issues prejudicial to consumer interest in the travel sector.

At the meeting, chaired by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, the issue of non-refund of the amount for tickets booked during the COVID-19 lockdown period was discussed.

An official release on Wednesday said that travel aggregators have been asked to disburse pending refunds affected due to the COVID-19 lockdown till the end of the third week of November.

"The travel platforms were informed that they should process the pending refunds by the third week of November, pursuant to which CCPA may initiate appropriate legal proceedings before the Supreme Court including filing of a contempt petition against the defaulting platforms," it said.

"Further, the establishment of an Ombudsman for time-bound resolution of consumer grievances was also deliberated. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Department of Consumer Affairs can jointly work on the modalities involved in establishing the same," the release said.

Another proposal is to integrate the National Consumer Helpline may be integrated with the Air Sewa Portal for effective resolution of consumer complaints.

According to the ministry, there were numerous consumer complaints related to refund of air ticket booking during the COVID-19 lockdown period despite the Supreme Court's October 1, 2020 judgment in the case of Pravasi Legal Cell vs. Union of India.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) took suo-moto cognizance of numerous complaints and issued notices to six online portals and five travel agencies directing them to immediately refund as per the Supreme Court's order.

The six online portals were: EaseMyTrip, Yatra, MakeMyTrip, HappyEasyGo, ClearTrip and Ixigo. The five travel agencies were: Thomas Cook, Kesari Tours, Veena World, Neem Holidays and Mango Holidays, it said.

With the timely intervention and rigorous efforts of CCPA, two companies namely Ixigo and Thomas Cook have successfully refunded all the amount to the consumers, it added.

Pursuant to CCPA action, Ixigo has refunded the full amount of Rs 46.68 crore. However, MakeMyTrip has refunded so far Rs 978 crore, EaseMyTrip Rs 232.63 crore, Clear Trip Rs 158.27 crore, Yatra Rs 22.85 crore, Mango Holidays Rs 4.13 lakh.

HappyEasyGo is "not responding" despite several reminders. Total amount refunded to consumers has not been disclosed by the company till date, the ministry said.

Meawnhile, Kesari Tours, Mango Holidays and Veena World have filed petitions in the Court against the orders to issue refunds to consumers passed by the CCPA. Neem Holidays is presently under investigation by the CCPA.

CCPA Chairperson Nidhi Khare highlighted the commonly prevalent ‘dark patterns’ on online travel platforms.

The meeting was attended by representatives from major travel platforms including MakeMyTrip, Yatra, ClearTrip and consumer activists.

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