Dubai: More than a month after RAK Airways abruptly suspended all its flights, passengers and travel agents who bought confirmed tickets remain in the dark about refunds of their booking payments.
MPM Mubashir, general manager of Air Travel Enterprises, a travel agent based in Calicut, Kerala, and an authorised ticket handling agent for RAK Airways in India, told XPRESS by phone: “We are yet to receive any refunds from the airline directly or indirectly through IATA with whom we have a weekly Bank Settlement Plan (BSP). We made bookings worth Rs800,000 (Dh47,000).”
“We would have been cautious and stopped bookings had we known about RAK Airways’ plans in advance. The suspension was so abrupt that we had no time to react. Now we have no clue to how and when we can claim refunds,” he said. On New Year’s Eve the Ras Al Khaimah-based airline announced it was suspending services indefinitely and said they would resume operations soon after some ‘restructuring’.
But earlier last week Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi, Director General of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed to the media that the airline would “not be coming back”.
RAK Airways officials could not be reached for comments. “We are getting several calls daily enquiring about refunds. We ask them to get in touch with the head office at RAK airport,” a RAK Airport executive told XPRESS.
Rafeek Pullarat, the Calicut branch manager of the Indian travel company Lawson Travel and Tours told XPRESS, “We have been able to pacify angry customers so far but I am not sure how long will we be able to do that.”
Calicut was the only India destination of RAK Airways.
RAK airways’ response:
Dear Trade Partner:
We kindly request you to submit soft copies of your refund list to customersupport@rakairways.com on or before 7 Jan, 2014. We will use your reports to reconcile refunds with our records. No further refund after this submission will be accepted. Please ensure that the complete refund ticket lists are included.
