Airline canceled flight. Money stuck. Any advice?

nemo_online

nemo_online

Disciple
Not the most common question on the forum but any advice on what to do next would be appreciated.
Had booked an Indigo flight for 6th October via easemytrip.com ( ya, the same whose founder has been crying foul ) but Indigo canceled the flight and have said they have refunded the full amount. However, EMT says they have not received full refund but rather have got a partial refund.
According to Indigo, they have refunded 7777 rupees ( even gave me a transaction ID no.) but when I try to cancel the booking on EMT they show that I will get only a refund of 1237 rupees.
Obviously, one of them is lying.
My bad that I opted for a 3rd party booking but is there any way I can recover my rightful amount?

Thanks
 
Last year I was stuck in same situation but it was on MMT. I automatically received the entire refund with taxes etc.
I sent a formal email to MMT within 48hrs and also there was some option in my booking cannot recall it now.
Thus, received the entire refund amount.

But I did read somewhere the refunds can also be partial at times depending on the platform or airlines.
 
Write to EMT and tell them that you booked through them, flight got cacelled, you expect full refund. You don't have to deal with the airline directly. It's EMT's responsibility. Isn't that why they charge convenience fee? Whether they received money from Indigo or not is not your concern, you ask them for full refund since flight got cancelled. Check their terms of service as well, just in case they try to pull some trick.
 
gourav said:
Write to EMT and tell them that you booked through them, flight got cacelled, you expect full refund. You don't have to deal with the airline directly. It's EMT's responsibility. Isn't that why they charge convenience fee? Whether they received money from Indigo or not is not your concern, you ask them for full refund since flight got cancelled. Check their terms of service as well, just in case they try to pull some trick.
Click to expand...
Did all the above. I got robotic customer care responses asking me to get in touch with Indigo.
I don't have the time and energy to keep running after these guys so the moral of the story is that times and mode of transaction might have changed but pimps will remain pimps. goodbye to 3rd party booking sites for me.
 
You can report this to Indigo and try to file a complaint. But in the future, stick to reliable sites. If the price is same when you compare airline direct booking and these 3rd party sites, book direclty from Airline.

I always book IndiGo for my domestic travels as I do not want to go through delayed/cancelled flights. Recently, I am booking directly from their own app, unless there is huge discount on MMT. I refrain from using new services unless they prove themselves worthy.

Recently I booked Alliance Air flight as I had a family emergency. three hours before flight, I got message that flight is delayed by 4 hours. Cancelled it, booked IndiGo then and there (had to pay nearly 10k INR as I booked flight just one hour from checkin closure). For cancelled Alliance Air, I got some 30% refund through MMT.
 
thanks for sharing your experience @nemo_online
EMT was the last 3rd party i was using, becasue most of the time i was getting the best price with them and no convenience fees.
looks like it time to move on to something else.

Does irctc charge conv fees now ?
desiibond said:
new services unless they prove themselves worthy.
Click to expand...
"worthy" is not the product lifecycle we can find in India.
Indian PLC goes like this.
start --> burn VC money for user acquisition --> provide unsustainable discounts --> funds low / VC wants return --> cheat customers --> get sold

so its always good to go with early stage start-ups and exploit the opportunity because its anyways your money they are burning.
 
Last edited:
Ramadhir Singh said:
start --> burn VC money for user acquisition --> provide unsustainable discounts --> funds low / VC wants return --> cheat customers --> get sold
Click to expand...
Perfect summary.
desiibond said:
You can report this to Indigo and try to file a complaint.
Click to expand...
Yes, just sent them an email. I had already spoken to a customer care rep earlier, but just like thieves are always hand in glove, for some mysterious reason, he said he cannot email me the proof that the refund had been issued. Although, he gave me a transaction ID but that was about it.
All Indigo has to do is send me a screenshot of the refund being issued. Why is that so difficult?
And if as an Airline you know that some 3rd party site is cheating your customers, why would you continue doing business with them? Wouldn't you warn your customers not to buy tickets through them?
Anyway, my naive questions must be a clear indication of why I could never become a business owner.
 
Last edited:
So, to conclude this thread, got my money back from EMT. I got the full refund back but no thanks to EMT as their customer care remained clueless throughout and insisted that I would not get my full money back. It was only out of desperation, that I clicked on the refund button despite it showing that I will get 1237 rupees back.
My learning in this entire episode is that both Airlines and third-party ticketing websites don't really give a damn about you or your money. Still, all things considered, it is best to avoid third-party pimps like MMT, EMT etc. Hence, for me, going forward, goodbye to third-party websites & apps.
 
Good that you got the money.

The only reason I book through MMT is card discounts. Otherwise I only book Indigo now, so no need to compare across airlines. And Indigo booking process is way smoother, MMT has like 10 services to cross-sell during the booking process, which makes it a hassle.
 
nRiTeCh said:
So till now you didn't clicked at all on this refund button?
Click to expand...
I hadn't because it used to show that I will get 1237 rupees instead of the 7777 I was supposed to get. Speaking to Customer care also didn't help as they were insisting that I would get 1237 only.
gourav said:
Good that you got the money.

The only reason I book through MMT is card discounts. Otherwise I only book Indigo now, so no need to compare across airlines. And Indigo booking process is way smoother, MMT has like 10 services to cross-sell during the booking process, which makes it a hassle.
Click to expand...
Ya, thanks.
I get it. Most people book through these sites because of discounts on credit card or debit card.
I have booked directly through the Vistara website in the past. Had been a ok experience although Vistara makes you jump through a lot of hoops to get your club Vistara points. Ultimately, I gave up trying to get those points added to my account.
 
Back
Top