Me and one of my friend had planned to visit Lakshadweep in November 2014. I booked air tickets from Delhi to Cochin and Cochin to Agatti Island. Only Air India fly to Agatti Island, so I had booked tickets for it. We tried to procure the permit but due to some protest by locals and restrictions, we were getting a permit only for two islands (Those were not the one’s we wanted to visit), so we decided to cancel the trip. How to cancel flight ticket of Air India.
Since I had booked the tickets, so I had to cancel. Here is my experience with Air India’s customer care. (I wrote it at that time and shared on a social media site. Just thought of sharing on my blog)
How to cancel flight ticket of Air India 😉
You can book a ticket online but you can not cancel online…. Hurry…..
Online Bookings Helpdesk (Monday to Saturday, 0930 hrs. – 1730 hrs. IST)
Customer : Dials 011-24624074/75 during working hours 😉
Recorded msg : This number can not be reached (Same reply 6-7 times)
Customer : Dials 1800 180 1407 Rings and AI’s recorded msg about Star alliance gp plays for 1 minute and then automated menu starts
Hurry……. 1 for Hindi, 2 for English, 3 for Punjabi
Customer : Selects 2…… same menu repeats, again select 2…. menu repeats….
Customer : Tries 4 times but stuck at same point in menu 🙁
Customer (C) : Tries again and this time selects 1…….. Hurry….. it moves forward….
After 6 minutes hold….. a customer care executive (CCE) come on line……. Thank God!!!!!!!
CCE : Welcomes in English (Hey…. but I selected Hindi 😉 )
C : My PNR no. is XXXX and I wanted to cancel my ticket.
CCE : Please provide mobile no. and passenger name
C : Provides same
CCE : Thank you. Can you please hold
C : Hold for approx 3 -4 minutes
CCE : Sorry for long hold
C : Its ok, can you cancel the ticket
CCE : Yes. You want to cancel entire ticket (2 passengers in 1 ticket)
C : Yes, please cancel complete ticket
CCE : Ok. Can you please hold
C : Yes (As in there is another option)
CCE : After 2 minutes. Thank you for hold. So you wanted to cancel the ticket
C : Yes
CCE : There will be charge for same
C : Yes, I know. Can you confirm how much?
CCE : Please hold
C : Ok (Oh god…… Not again)
CCE : You have to pay 0000 amount per passenger
C : Ok. I want to cancel the ticket.
CCE : Ok. So you want to cancel the ticket
C : Yes, please.
CCE : Please hold
C : Hmmmm…..
CCE : Yes. So you want to cancel
C : Yes. Please confirm the amount will be credited back into my card, which I used for booking ticket.
CCE : Please hold, let me check.
C : Again hold (Wow….. he doesn’t know this. Great)
CCE : No, the amount will not refund into your card. For that, you have to write a mail to our eCommerce dept.
C : But why so. I am asking refund in the same card
CCE : Please hold, let me check.
C : Great (Grrrrrrr)
CCE : Thanks for hold. No, you have to contact eCommerce dept. Sorry, I can’t help you.
C : Ohhhh
CCE : You still want to cancel the ticket
C : Yes (If I am not traveling then I have to cancel ticket Mr. xxxx). Will you send me a mail confirming the cancellation?
CCE : No, that’s not possible.
C : Ohhh…. Why so
CCE : I can’t
C : Do, I get system generated mail
CCE : Please hold
C : *-*
CCE : NO….. You still want to cancel ticket
C : Yes. Please. ( Means I have deal with another AI great 😉 )
CCE : Please hold
C : *-*
CCE : Thanks for hold. Please confirm you want to cancel ticket
C : YES
CCE : Ok. I am canceling
C : Yes, please
CCE : Ok. I have canceled.
C : Hurry…..
CCE : That’s all
C : Yes. Thank you.
P.S. Hopefully. One mail will be enough to get a refund. (Fingers crossed)
* FINALLY I GOT MY REFUND AFTER 1.5 MONTH.
It is my funny take on how to cancel flight ticket of Air India.
1.5 months is a long duration.. But then looks like he doesn’t know much about procedure so kept on hold every now and then ..
It was frustrating but finally I got my money back so was pretty relieved.
I hope in last 1.5 yrs, they have some improvement in customer care.
flight is by plane, but refunds come on bullock carts 🙂
Yes. Evena airlines don’t return money in to account and keep in your airline account saying you can use this money for your next.
Ha ha, it’s funny.
Ha,ha.. interesting conversation. This is typical of most airlines, that they deliberately make to sit the biggest ‘buttheads’ in the refunds section. But there’s a quicker way out for this.
Next when you cancel your ticket with the customer care online, you can try doing this. Just go to the airport counter, where they will have a sales desk. Once you made the cancellation online, you can ask them to check the status on their ‘Amadeus/ Galileo’ system.
They will generate a report in DOS mode on their system that looks like a printout from the first generation dot matrix printers (krr, krrr, krrr, krrr, you know what I mean), I made a request to the desk and got it. This printout has all the information, including the refund amount after cancellations.Now is the time to shake up the airline once again! You must tell them specifically that I want the money back into my account and not as a cashback or advance for next flight, They are bound to reverse it or face penalty. Mark the email to DGCA website. That’s where their salary comes from.
I learnt it on my Leh trip, with a flight reschedule.But undoubtedly, Air India continues to annoy its passengers, in astounding ways possible. Its only how astoundingly you get back on them.
I normally travel by private airlines and Air India is always the last option. For Agatti Island, it was the only choice.
As I book online, so if in any case if need to cancel then do it online. Usually get the refund but cancellation charges are a real pain and too much.