Passengers of cancelled Go First flights await refund

Despite mounting financial woes, the airline did not take steps to inform passengers in a timely manner that their scheduled flights were likely to be cancelled

With crisis hit Go First airline filing for bankruptcy and with the DGCA directing it to immediately stop bookings and sale of tickets, domestic flyers are the ones being stranded yet again.

Even as it became clear in the weeks up to its voluntary insolvency filing that Go First's mounting troubles were not going away, the budget airline did not take steps to inform passengers in a timely manner that their scheduled flights were likely to be cancelled.

Also Read | The engine dispute at the heart of Go First's bankruptcy filing

One passenger that Deccan Herald spoke to said that she received a phone call informing her that her Go First flight had been cancelled only 8 hours prior to departure. The passenger, who did not wish to be named, said that Go First executives called her at 3 pm on May 2 to inform her that her 11 pm Bombay-Bengaluru flight had been cancelled. She had booked her ticket a day prior, on May 1, when the airline was still selling tickets, despite its financial woes being no secret. When the passenger checked her flight status early morning on the day of departure, everything seemed fine - the flight was still scheduled to take off on time.

However, when the airline's executives called her at 3 pm, it was to inform her that her flight had been cancelled and that she had two options available - either avail a full refund or board the flight scheduled 3 days later, on May 5. She was told that no earlier flight was available and that the airline wouldn't be able to help her in any other way. Stranded, when the passenger checked for other flights on the same route, she was surprised to see that the average price was Rs 28,000, one-way. She was then forced to book a bus ticket, which too was seeing a price surge and ended up costing her Rs 3,300 per seat.

Also Read | Go First Airways owes financial creditors $798 million, shows bankruptcy filing

The passenger still hasn't received her refund, a total of Rs 12,000 for two seats, from Go First. When she called the airline's customer support last, she had to wait for 20 minutes to be put in touch with an operator, only to be told that the refund process had been "initiated" and that it would take "five to seven days to reflect" in her bank account.

Another passenger, speaking to the Times of India, said, “I had made the bookings through two travel portals. I got a credit note from the airline, informing me about the refund, by email. However, when I contacted the travel portals, I was told that no refund amount had been received by them. And, therefore, until they receive the money, I won’t get my refund either.”

A second passenger told the publication, “I was booked to travel from Delhi to Phuket. I spent almost Rs 1.25 lakh. Now that flight has been cancelled. The travel portal is not returning my money, nor is it giving me an alternative. The portal keeps saying that the airline has not released the refund amount. The airline too isn’t providing any answers. My hard-earned money is stuck.”