With uncertain airline future, buy tickets from travel portals


NEW DELHI: Air travellers in India are left to fend for themselves if the airlines they have booked shuts down before their travel date. Refunding passengers and employee salaries comes at the fag end of a long list of payables that such airlines face which is headed by clearing statutory dues and bank loans. 

In such a scenario, the best bet for flyers who want to book airlines facing an uncertain future is to buy tickets through reputed travel portal or big agencies. At least, flyer will stand some chance of getting their money back in case the airline folds up as the portal will pay them back and then keep doing rounds of courts to get their money from airlines. 

"This is what happened with Kingfisher. We refunded people who bought the airline's tickets from us. We still have to get a few crores from Kingfisher. At present also, we are refunding passengers whose flights have been cancelled and hopefully we will be paid," said travel portal Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall. 



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