Go First cancels flight amid bankruptcy: Know all about the refund process

Crisis-hit Go First Airways on Tuesday filed for bankruptcy after the grounding of its aircraft amid a severe cash crunch. The third-largest airline in the nation also announced that all its flights would be suspended for at least three days starting tomorrow.

The airline on its website said, "We regret to inform you that due to operational reasons, Go First flights scheduled for 3rd, 4th, and 5th May 2023 have been canceled. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the flight cancellations.”

According to a Business Standard report, "While 13 planes of Go First were grounded in March last year, this number increased to 22 by the same month this year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's data. On Tuesday, the airline said 25 of its planes are currently grounded."

After the airline has suspended its flights, here are answers to some of the common questions:

What is the refund process?

Go First today said that the customers who have booked the flights between May 3-5 will be eligible for a full refund. According to a notification on its website, "A full refund will be issued to the original mode of payment shortly. We acknowledge the flight cancellations might have disrupted your travel plans and we are committed to providing all the assistance we can."

The airline has also provided a comprehensive FAQ stating information on how customers can claim their refunds for their canceled flights. However, according to a report published in Economic Times, the FAQ page was constantly showing 404 errors.

Customers who booked directly through the website will be getting a refund in their source account, and those who booked through online aggregators will also get a refund in their source account.

The report also suggests that if the refund isn't processed for customers who booked via online travel aggregators, they can get in touch with the companies for more information.

Can the tickets be rescheduled to other dates or transferred to any other airlines?

The cash-strapped airline has said that it will not be able to reschedule or transfer tickets to any other airlines. It said, "Dear Go First Flyer, we sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you due to the event of flight cancellation, on account of unavoidable operational issues. We regret that we cannot reschedule/transfer your ticket to any other airline."

The company will not be able to reschedule the tickets, it said, citing unavailability.