Cleartrip — Flight Refund Help

Hello team,

Hope you are doing well. My name is Niranjan and I'm a cleartrip customer.

I've been in touch on a daily basis with your customer service team and had no other option but to write this email to escalate. The CS team at Cleatrip is giving me different messaging every day and have not provided me and confidence/assurance on the refund process with my difficult experience.

Cleartrip Trip ID:[protected]

Original Flight : BA-119

Airline PNR: KL39OQ

Ticket Number : 125-[protected], 125-[protected]

Amount paid by customer: ₹75, 770

Situation

· I had booked a flight to travel on British Airways Flight BA on 20th April, Tuesday from London to Bengaluru. It was important for me to travel on this date as I had urgent personal work. The booking was made on Cleartrip.

· British Airways rescheduled the flight and I was not informed of the same. I had shared my contact details to BA & my travel agent, Cleartrip. I was not informed. BA mentions that they took consent of Cleartrip to re-schedule my booking but I gave no such consent/nor was informed.

· Only when I tried doing web-check in on Monday (19th April), the day before the flight, it showed my flight has been rescheduled to Thursday (22nd April). I was completely shocked and in a state of panic.

· I immediately tried reaching British Airways customer support. I was not provided any satisfactory response. I was directed to my travel agent. I spoke to them and they mentioned that it was not possible do anything from their end. They then said they will speak to airline and proceed for cancellation and refund.

· As I waited to hear from Cleatrip, BA sent an email to me on 21st April (2:04 AM), mentioning that the 22nd April re-scheduled flight has also been cancelled and now they are rebooking me on another flight for 21st April. They did not provide any notice and these flights were not suitable for me as I had to travel on 20th April under any circumstances. I ended up booking another flight with a different airline paying substantial premium.

Every day, my daily routine is to explain the same story to a cleartrip executive. Everytime, he/she gives a different reply - sometimes it is zero refund, wrong message on website, wait for 5 days, we will try our best, etc.

What did we feel during this process?

· In none of these cases, I was given an option/choice to cancel the booking. I was automatically booked on another flight.

· The customer support received from Cleartrip and BA has been poor.

· I had taken a COVID-19 test for my original flight. This would have not been eligible for any of BA’s re-scheduled flights on 21st/22nd April.

· There was a lot of mental stress & panic that I had to go through throughout.

The refund request needs to come from Cleartrip to British Airways. When I'm contacting BA, they are asking me to speak to Cleartrip.

Next Steps

· Considering all these factors – both financial stress & mental pain, the least BA can do is to offer a complete refund of INR 75, 770. I need cleartrip to make this clear that it is airline fault and i was not informed. hence, eligbile for a full refund.

· If BA can go a step-beyond and consider compensating me for the 2 COVID-tests of GBP 160 that both me and my wife (co-passenger) had to undergo, that will be appreciated.

· For future cases, please maintain a clear line of communication with passengers and provide them choice. Travelling during these times is stressful in itself.

Please escalate this mail to BA and help a common man in times of need.

Hoping for early processing of this case. I had trusted BA and Cleartrip and this incident has been disappointing, causing lot of pain. Hope that BA and Cleartrip can redeem the trust and take care of its passengers.

Thanks,
Niranjan