Lockdown changes torment fliers - Cancellation or rescheduling hassle for thousands; uncertainty over connection flights

Sanjay Mandal   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   05.08.20   :  Thousands of people have to cancel or rebook their flight tickets following the change in the lockdown dates announced by the Bengal government on Monday.

Airlines said the change of dates was leaving passengers inconvenienced as many of them have already cancelled their tickets more than once before because of the state government’s last-minute decisions on stalling flights.

The government had earlier announced that the state would be under “complete lockdown” on August 5, 8, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 31. The dates announced on Monday are 5, 8, 20, 21, 27, 28 and 31.

“In view of the government order issued on August 3, flight operations at the Calcutta airport will remain suspended on the revised lockdown dates,” an official at the airport said. Which means flights will operate on August 16, 17, 23 and 24, the days the state was to be in lockdown according to the earlier order.

Airport officials said around 110 flights were operating to and from Calcutta every day. The number could go up to 160 after August 15, if the state government allows flights from six cities with “high Covid prevalence” — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. Flights from these cities to Bengal were banned on July 6 following a request from the state government.

All airlines have opened bookings on flights from the six cities. 

Most flights on August 20, 21, 27 and 28 had about 60 per cent of the seats booked, sources said. According to officials of multiple airlines, the change in dates and the last-minute decisions were not only jeopardising their plans but causing immense inconvenience to thousands of passengers.

The state government had earlier said flights and trains were not included on the list of services exempted from the lockdown.

A Behala resident who works in Abu Dhabi had booked tickets on IndiGo flights from Calcutta to Mumbai through Indore on August 20. He has a ticket on a flight from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi on August 20. 

“I came to Calcutta in February and have been stuck here since. Now, I have to rejoin work. I had earlier booked tickets on August 16 but the moment the state government announced lockdown on that date, I changed it to August 20,” he said.

He will have to reschedule again because according to the latest order, the state will be in lockdown on August 20.

Airlines said they were flooded with calls for cancellations and rebookings throughout Tuesday.

“Now, most passengers are travelling only out of necessity. There is no leisure travel. Such frequent change in dates is jeopardising important plans of people,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman, east, Travel Agents Federation of India.

He said many of his clients who had earlier cancelled tickets are yet to get refunds from the airlines. “On top of that they have to spend additional money for fresh bookings,” he said.

According to Punjabi, many passengers are going to Delhi and Mumbai via other cities to board evacuation flights to the countries where they work.

SpiceJet officials said they were not sure whether the flights they would run on August 16, 17, 23 and 24 — which are no longer lockdown days — would get enough passengers.

“People are sceptical about whether the flight (on which they are booking tickets) will finally operate. The only hope for us is that most passengers are booking three to four days prior to the departure because of this uncertainty,” said Debjit Ghosh, regional sales head (east), SpiceJet.  

IndiGo airline has about 90 flights on each of those four days, including those from the six cities.

“We might have to cancel some of the flights because there might not be enough bookings if we reintroduce them now,” an IndiGo official said.