The great Indian 'jugaad' has failed this time. People were lining up at airport counters of airlines to buy tickets using their stack of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
On Thursday evening, airlines said that the tickets being sold like this will be "strictly non-refundable and won't be cancelled". SpiceJet confirmed this move and Vistara tweeted about it.
"We got instructions from the DGCA to do so. They, in turn, got their orders from the highest level of government (read PMO) as the relaxation was meant to ensure genuine travellers do not face hardships. This was not meant to be misused as a old-to-new note conversion trick," said a senior airline official.
The mad frenzy among people to get rid of their 'unaccounted' notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 has seen airlines witness a mad rush at airport counters from soon after PM Modi's dramatic announcement on Tuesday night. Airline counters at airports were among the few places allowed to accept these high denomination currency till Friday-Saturday midnight.
Before PM Modi's swoop on these notes, only people travelling in emergency used to go to airports and buy tickets from airline counters there so that they just board aircraft after that.
"We saw at least 20% rise in airport counter sales. The tickets being sold are not only for immediate, but also future travel," said SpiceJet spokesman Ajay Jasra. Other airlines also reported a similar experience and expect the volume of airport counter sales to rise till Friday night.
A number of airline officials feel that people are booking advance travel tickets from airports are likely to cancel them later on as the money will be refunded in their accounts. "Only about Rs 1,100-1,200 will be charged as cancellation fee and the balance will be sent to their account. We feel this may be a major reason for advance travel purchase at airport counters," said an official.
But with these tickets being made non-cancellable and non-refundable, only people who genuinely need to travel will now line up at airports instead of those who were buying to cancel and get a refund later.
On Thursday evening, airlines said that the tickets being sold like this will be "strictly non-refundable and won't be cancelled". SpiceJet confirmed this move and Vistara tweeted about it.
"We got instructions from the DGCA to do so. They, in turn, got their orders from the highest level of government (read PMO) as the relaxation was meant to ensure genuine travellers do not face hardships. This was not meant to be misused as a old-to-new note conversion trick," said a senior airline official.
The mad frenzy among people to get rid of their 'unaccounted' notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 has seen airlines witness a mad rush at airport counters from soon after PM Modi's dramatic announcement on Tuesday night. Airline counters at airports were among the few places allowed to accept these high denomination currency till Friday-Saturday midnight.
Before PM Modi's swoop on these notes, only people travelling in emergency used to go to airports and buy tickets from airline counters there so that they just board aircraft after that.
"We saw at least 20% rise in airport counter sales. The tickets being sold are not only for immediate, but also future travel," said SpiceJet spokesman Ajay Jasra. Other airlines also reported a similar experience and expect the volume of airport counter sales to rise till Friday night.
A number of airline officials feel that people are booking advance travel tickets from airports are likely to cancel them later on as the money will be refunded in their accounts. "Only about Rs 1,100-1,200 will be charged as cancellation fee and the balance will be sent to their account. We feel this may be a major reason for advance travel purchase at airport counters," said an official.
But with these tickets being made non-cancellable and non-refundable, only people who genuinely need to travel will now line up at airports instead of those who were buying to cancel and get a refund later.