NEW DELHI: With the government extending use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, among other things, to buy airline tickets from airport counters till Monday midnight, airlines have come out with stringent norms to check misuse of this relaxation.
India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo, for instance, tweeted: “Tickets purchased using old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will be non refundable.”The second largest airline by domestic carriage, Jet Airways, also reiterated that though tickets can be bought using these notes till Monday night, they will be non-refundable. “All such tickets (including coupon booklets) issued against cash denominations of INR 500 and INR 1000 will be non-refundable,” the airline said.
Tata-Singapore Airlines JV, Vistara, said that though its tickets sold this way from Saturday will be refundable, the refund will be made to bank accounts after fulfilling KYC norms. “Tickets sold at airport counters for Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as of Saturday, November 12, are refundable (cancel and refund fees apply). But refunds can only be made to bank accounts after completion of KYC documents. There will be no cash refunds. Tickets sold in cash between 4 pm Thursday, Nov 10, and midnight Friday, Nov 11, are non-refundable. Tickets sold in cash prior to 4 pm November 10 may be refunded in cash (cancel and refund fees apply), but it cod take 10 to 14 days or more before we have sufficient new currency notes denomination to process cash refunds,” the airline tweeted.Before PM Modi’s swoop on these notes, only people travelling in emergency used to go to airports and buy tickets from airline counters there so that they just board aircraft after that. Since the announcement, people are even buying advance travel tickets possibly to cancel them later and get refund in new notes.
Airlines say people who booked tickets only to get rid of their old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes and intend to cancel them later are not going to escape the rules applicable for the exchange of old notes.
[Source:- TOI]
