In Brief
This writ petition challenged airline practices of issuing credit shells (vouchers) instead of cash refunds for cancelled flights during COVID-19 lockdowns. The Court held that under Civil Aviation Requirements, while airlines need not pay compensation for force majeure cancellations, they must refund ticket fares. The Court rejected indefinite credit shells and directed airlines to refund unused vouchers with interest to the original payment source within a prescribed period. Credit shells must be issued only to individual passengers, not agents, protecting travellers who paid their own money expecting to travel.
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