What you need to know
- Travel travails when cancelling and rebooking flights
- Airline insists that the passengers who cancelled the booking only can use the credit
- As family members (father, mother, daughter and son) we would like to swap the credit among us
- They reissued the ticket to me and wife to travel, after Gulf News intervention
We booked an Air Arabia flight on June 19, 2018 for two-way travel, Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram on September 11, 2018 and September 18, 2018 for the whole family.
Due to unavoidable circumstances my wife and daughter cancelled their return booking and credit equivalent to Dh678 had been given to us.
Recently I went to their Abu Dhabi office to book a ticket for me to travel to Thiruvananthapuram with an intention to use the credit given earlier. I was told that only the cancelled passengers can avail the credit and not any other member. They added that they used to adjust it to others but that practice has been stopped.
My grievance is that, if I had booked Air India Express, the credit offered for the cancelled portion of the ticket would have returned to the credit card used for the booking. I could easily have used the credit to make any kind of purchase using the card. Air Arabia retains the credit for their benefit and restricts it for using only for travel with them within a year. Now they insist that the passengers who cancelled the booking only can use the credit. Ours was a family booking for four members and only two members return trip were cancelled. The credit card used to make the booking was that of my wife’s and a single PNR was given for all of us until the return trip cancellation takes effect. Why they are not allowing us to use the credit for any of the family members travel, who were in the original booking reference number?
As family members (father, mother, daughter and son) we would like to swap the credit among us and it should not be a concern of the airline as long as the money is ours, which the airline lawfully holds.
They only want the money irrespective of me, wife, daughter or whoever travels. That is my concern because the ticket was made as a single PNR, which they later changed when the cancellation was effected. I would appreciate to hear their response through Gulf News.
From Mr Sathya Babu
Abu Dhabi
An Air Arabia spokesperson responds: As mentioned on the travel itinerary, once a booking is cancelled, the retained amount will be credited towards future flights to be used for travel by the same passenger only. To take this case further, Mr Babu needs to discuss the matter with Air Arabia customer relations team who will look into it and help out. We have already passed his case to the concerned team and they will contact Mr Babu.
Mr Babu responds: The case is satisfactorily closed and they reissued the ticket to me and wife to travel on May 10. If it was not your help this would not have happened. Thank you Gulf News for your effort and time well spent.
(Process initiation: January 14, 2019. Response from organisation: February 3, 2019. Reader confirmation: February 26, 2019.)
Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.
