Policies of Refunds on SpiceJet Bookings

SpiceJet is a budget carrier that flies with only economy class cabins. It seeks to provide the lowest airfares to customers, allowing them to travel economically. The airline allows passengers to book tickets through different means for optimum convenience. SpiceJet bookings can be done with various travel agents and online portals. In case reservations need to be cancelled, it has clearly formulated rules. Some of the essential elements of these rules are provided below:

It is important to check whether the tickets are refundable or not because cancellation of every reservation will not entitle people to get their money back. Heavily discounted sale tickets or promotional ones might be non-refundable. In the event of a cancellation of such a flight ticket, only the government taxes will be reimbursed. If a seat has been booked with some agent or agency, then the process has to start with them. The airline cannot intervene and process refunds on its own by circumventing the third party. However, the carrier can be approached to know the status of the refunding process.

Travellers need to remember that they will not get the payment back upon cancellation until and unless they ask for it. Many times, people simply cancel the bookings, but do not ask for refunds, assuming that these would be processed automatically. It is better to email or call the agency or airline to get the reimbursement. On successful processing, the sum goes directly to the bank account through the same channel, which was used for making the reservations. For example, if a credit card was used, the amount is sent back to the credit card account. In case, net banking was the mode of payment, then the money will be credited to the bank account.

Such credits are processed after deducting the necessary charges, which have been stipulated for the cancellation of SpiceJet bookings or are non-refundable in nature, such as convenience fees. There can be situations, where the whole amount needs to be forfeited and passengers only get back the government taxes. Therefore, the amounts which are refunded could be lesser than what had been paid by passengers. If booked with agents, there could be their charges for cancellation as well.

The carrier gives customers the option of using its credit shell for keeping the funds instead of transferring them to bank accounts. This can be used if people are planning on travelling with the airline in the future. It also helps in saving the processing expenses for the carrier. Passengers have to mention that they do not intend to use the shell and the money is to be reimbursed.

The process of giving the paid amount back to travellers generally takes about a week. It can take longer if the request has not been raised by passengers or the amounts are lying in the credit shell of the air service provider. There is a grievance redressal cell of every commercial aviation company and an ombudsman, whose contact details are provided on the website of airlines or DGCA. Complaints can be lodged if the reimbursements do not arrive on time or there is an unexplained deduction of money.

The above-described information can be helpful for travellers in case they change their itinerary and need the amount back.