IndiGo to compensate flyers after govt probe

IndiGo will start compensating passengers affected by large-scale flight disruptions earlier this month from December 26, following a directive issued by the civil aviation ministry, sources told ToI.The government on Friday instructed the airline to immediately initiate the compensation process for travellers impacted during December 3, 4 and 5, when thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed. Following the directive, IndiGo will issue travel vouchers worth ₹10,000 each to “severely impacted customers who were stranded at airports for many hours” on those days, apart from additional compensation of ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 in line with government norms, sources said.The directive was issued by civil aviation secretary Samir Sinha during a review meeting. Explaining the timeline, an official told ToI, “Compensation payment should start within a week for passengers who booked tickets directly from IndiGo website as their data is already with the airline. IndiGo has been directed to collect information about people who booked tickets via travel agents and online travel agencies (OTA) from the latter and pay the compensation directly to passengers. This work should also start soon.”The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been directed to ensure that every affected passenger receives compensation, while the civil aviation ministry will supervise the process through its Air Seva grievance redressal portal, sources said.While IndiGo has initiated refunds, several passengers who booked through online travel agencies are still awaiting the money. Asha Sen (name changed), who used credit card reward points to partly pay for her December 7 Udaipur–Delhi flight, said the refund process has not been completed. “IndiGo says the refund has been initiated, but the OTA is yet to start the process so that the bank can reverse the credit card points used as well as the balance payment made using the card,” said Sen, a south Delhi-based banker.IndiGo executives said refunds for the affected days had been processed without any deductions. “Now it is up to OTAs to transfer the same in full to passengers,” they said.Sources told ToI that some leading online travel agencies had initiated refunds even before receiving the funds from IndiGo. MakeMyTrip, for instance, is estimated to have paid out nearly ₹10 crore in refunds, according to people familiar with the matter. The DGCA had last week convened a meeting with OTAs, during which they were instructed to issue full refunds to passengers without any cuts.The scale of the disruption was significant. Between December 1 and 9, IndiGo cancelled 4,354 flights. Of these, 2,456 domestic and 51 international flights were cancelled on December 3, 4 and 5 alone.Assuming an average of 150 passengers per flight for these 2,507 cancelled services—excluding delayed flights that may also qualify for vouchers—the airline may have to issue compensation to more than 3.8 lakh passengers. The estimated value of these vouchers alone exceeds ₹376 crore, sources said.