Travel portals boost capacity to handle rising flier queries, speed refunds

OTAs offer 100% refunds amid Indigo flight cancellations

As India’s largest airline IndiGo faces one of its biggest crises after it cancelled 1,000 flights on Friday, travel operators increased their customer support capacities to handle a mounting number of queries till late Sunday night. Several were offering full refunds to affected travellers on select dates.  Bharatt Malik, senior vice president, air and hotel business, Yatra Online, said that the company is working closely with the airline to assist customers as per the issued guidelines. Similar to other travel operators, they have seen a rise in queries from affected flyers, and the company is working on assisting with rebooking options, refund status, and alternate travel arrangements. Malik added that to enhance awareness and reduce customer concerns, it is “proactively communicating” updates across multiple channels, ensuring travellers have timely and accurate information.  “The situation at major airports is unprecedented, with significant impacts on bookings, cancellations, and rescheduling.  Average airfares are currently three to five times higher than usual, and we are handling an increased volume of customer inquiries about schedule changes and travel assistance,” a Cleartrip spokesperson stated. “Our teams are committed to providing timely information, rebooking options, and refunds. We understand the frustration and anxiety caused by these disruptions and are working closely with airlines to ensure customers receive quick updates and clear responses regarding their bookings.”  “To support inconvenienced passengers in these difficult times, ixigo will refund full convenience fees and assured fees for all our customers whose IndiGo flights are cancelled by the airline between 3rd and 8th December 2025,” the Gurugram-based company said in a statement on Saturday.  Meanwhile, EaseMyTrip stated that it is closely monitoring the situation around the recent flight cancellations and is fully committed to supporting all impacted customers. Additionally, to manage the surge in queries, it has strengthened its 24/7 customer support helpdesk, enabling travellers to receive timely assistance, clear guidance, and real-time updates.  “Our dedicated teams are actively working to ensure swift resolutions, whether through seamless rescheduling options or 100 per cent refunds for affected bookings. Our priority remains unwavering, to minimise inconvenience, offer transparent communication, and ensure every customer is taken care of with the highest level of service,” EaseMyTrip’s statement said.  IndiGo, too, has posted on X, stating, “In response to recent events, all refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment. We will offer full waiver on all cancellations or reschedule requests of your bookings for travel between December 5, 2025 and December 15, 2025.”  Portals also showed semblance in air fares returning after government’s intervention.  Compared to the spiked airfares earlier, Cleartrip’s website showed airfare for a one-way route from Delhi to Mumbai for Sunday night in the range of ₹15,000 to ₹16,000. On MakeMyTrip, flight bookings from Monday to December 25 on a one-way route between Delhi and Mumbai is between ₹6,000 to ₹9,000.  This followed Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) taking a serious note of concerns regarding unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines during the ongoing disruption. In order to protect passengers from any form of opportunistic pricing, MoCA had invoked its regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes, according to a release by the Press Information Bureau. The release added that MoCA will continue to closely monitor fare levels through real-time data and active coordination with airlines and online travel platforms.  Air India’s spokesperson, quoted on the airline’s X post, clarified that since December 4, economy class airfares on Air India and Air India Express’ non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism being applied by revenue management systems.    “We are aware of screenshots of last-minute itineraries with one-stop or two-stop flights or a combination of economy and premium economy or business cabins taken from third-party platforms. It is not technically possible to cap all such permutations, but we are engaging such platforms to exercise oversight. Air India and Air India Express are seeking to add capacity to help travellers and their baggage reach their destinations as quickly as possible,” it stated in its X post on Saturday.