With Restrictions On International Flights, What Happens To Your Booked Ticket?
At least 10 countries have taken a cautionary view on India and have either restricted or advised against travel to or from India on account of a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, with more likely to follow.Countries that have announced restrictions include Canada, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Oman, Hong Kong, France, the US and the United Kingdom.
If you were to travel from India
It is to be noted that these jurisdictions have imposed a ban on travel with a grace period. For example, flights to UAE will be suspended effective Saturday, April 24 ¨C 23:59 local time Dubai. If a passenger is booked to travel to destinations such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, etc after that date, they should reach out to their airlines, which would be Emirates, Etihad, FlyDubai, Air Arabia or Indian carriers like IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India and Air India Express.
AI Express, in an advisory on Thursday, said passengers ¡°booked to fly with us during this period will be able to reschedule their tickets once the restrictions are lifted¡±.?
Currently, the UAE restrictions are in place for 10 days, following which there will be a review. Similarly, Singapore¡¯s ban is also effective Friday onwards from 11:59 pm local time, Oman¡¯s restrictions begin from Saturday 6 pm local time, and Canada¡¯s ban started late Thursday local time.
If you are travelling to India
Given that the restrictions have been imposed on outbound travel from India, and there is no binding prohibition on travelling to India, it is expected that most of the airlines will continue to operate flights from these countries to India.
However, a senior executive of a Dubai-based airline said that whether they operate flights to India will be a commercial decision and that if passenger loads are not enough on UAE-India leg, they might cancel these flights.
