Pandemic has changed the way people used to travel, and especially for air travellers, who had to face challenges related to changing nature of the pandemic. They either had their tickets canceled at the last moment or the flights were canceled at the approaching hours.
In an online survey, it was found out that less than one-third of the people who canceled their flights in the wake of the Omicron variant-led third pandemic wave received refunds.
Only 29 percent of those people who had to cancel their hotel bookings owing to the Omicron-variant led spread got their money back, says the survey of an online community platform Localcircles.
The survey recorded 20,000 responses from citizens residing in 332 districts of India.62% respondents were men and 38% of the participants were women.
51% of respondents belonged to tier 1, 34% from tier 2, while 15% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
Because of the fast-spreading characteristic of the Omicron variant, many citizens — who had scheduled their travel during January-March — had to reevaluate plans, and a subset of them also have asked airlines and hotels for cancellations.
The survey had a question – “For the flight travel that you had booked for January-March 2022, how did the cancellation process work?”
To which 29 percent of the participants responded: Travel agents and/or airlines accepted cancellation and returned the full amount, while 14 percent said they received a partial amount.
While, 29 per cent of respondents said – “travel agent and/or airline accepted cancellation and refund a very small amount.”
Nearly 14 percent of the respondents said, travel agent and/or airline refused to refund the money but rebooked the ticket for a later date, and 14 per cent couldn’t say anything, as per the survey.
Overall, of those who withdrew their flight tickets due to the third COVID wave, only 29 percent managed to receive full refund from airlines/travel agents, it added.
Over double the number of citizens were able to get refunds for flight ticket cancellation due to third-wave related cancellation. However, the majority ended up losing their money.
Those who canceled hotel booking due to the COVID19 third wave, only 34 percent received 100 percent refund from hotels/travel agents, said the survey.
On hotel booking during the period of January to March 2022, 34% of respondents reported travel agents and/or hotels accepted cancellation and refund the whole amount, 13% received a partial refund, and 13% received a very little amount.
Apart from this, 27 percent of the respondents said the travel agent and/or hotel did not refund anything, and “lost the entire booking amount”.
In comparison with the second wave, over 2.5 times as many citizens were able to receive the hotel booking refund this time. However, the majority of the people lost money to hotels, the survey said.
Citizens on the LocalCircles platform have suggested that the government should lay down a policy for travel booking refunds while the COVID pandemic continues, particularly for airlines and hotels.
According to Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, the majority do not agree with the existing travel booking refund procedures during the pandemic because of a lack of standardization in cancellation charges by different airlines and lodging operators.
Discover insightful findings from a recent survey on pandemic-induced travel disruptions at Juniper. Gain valuable insights into the challenges faced by air travelers and hotel guests, with only a fraction receiving full refunds amidst cancellations.