Ever fell in a situation where you had booked an air ticket from a low fare carrier, well in advance just to be on the 'safer' side and avail the lowest fare on a journey, but unfortunately just a few days before the departure, all your plans go for a toss and when most of the Indian low budget carrier like Indigo charge non-refundable air tickets, you are left with the big question, 'How do I go about booking another ticket without losing the money on the previous one?'
I recently went through this situation and tried to google a solution for it, but I failed to find any. So I am writing this post especially for the Indigo travellers where the tickets are mostly non-refundable. But before that let me tell you that this is not a full-proof solution from a travel agent or Indigo professionals. I am just another traveller like you trying to help you out if you ever fall in such situation. Most of the reviews that I read on the net about Indigo customer care were negative. But luckily I didn't face a single problem from their side and they were quite helpful and hospitable.
So here are the steps. I will describe the way I went about it.
1. I had booked a flight from Kolkata to Bangalore 6E 275, well in advance (about 2 months). The cost of the fare was INR 3,492/- I had made the booking from Indigo's official site www.goindigo.in and it was clearly mentioned that the fare is non-refundable.
2. Just a week before the departure day, due to some personal reasons I had to change my source from Kolkata to Mumbai. But I was in a soup as I had no clue about what to do regarding the already booked ticket. So I logged in and was somewhat relieved to see the 'Modify this booking' box in the upper right corner of the itinerary. Just when I was about to press the 'change flight' button, something held me back. I googled once again the problem and noticed that most of the people who had problems in getting the money back had tried to do this on their own. So I refrained from doing it all by myself and called up the toll free number 1800 180 38 38.
3. Mr. Ali answered my call. He was quite polite and helpful and understood my problem and guided me the procedure. He took all the details about my previous booking. He then asked for my new booking details. He cancelled the previous PNR data with my consent and deducted INR 750/- as the cancellation charges. The remainder that is INR 2732/-, he said will not be refunded in cash but will be kept with Indigo for a period of 12 months within which it can be reused for any other travel made within that specified period.
4. As I had to book a new ticket on the same date with a different origin, I asked him whether I can go back online and book a new one with the credit amount. But he refrained me from doing so as he said that to use the credit amount left either you have to call up the customer care and book it with a credit card (not debit card) or you have to visit the airport outlet of Indigo for doing so. As I didn't have credit card then I agreed on the second option.
5. So Mr. Ali helped me with making a provisional ('on hold') reservation of my flight from Mumbai to Bangalore with the new fare rates i.e INR 4132/- and gave me a NEW PNR number.
6. Then he told me to go to the nearest Airport and show both the PNR, the old and the new one and pay the additional amount, i.e. INR 4132 minus the credit amount INR 2732 = INR 1400 via Cash or Debit card but WITHIN 24 HRS!
7. So I reached airport and headed for the Indigo outlet. The whole procedure went smoothly and didn't took more than 5 minutes. And there I was with a new ticket without loosing any money except the cancellation charges,
8. Within half an hour I received a confirmation call from Indigo whether the debit card that I used belonged to me or not, may be for security reasons.
Have a safe journey...
Disclaimer: My sole intention here is to provide a flowchart to those poor souls who become panicky (just like I did) when they have to cancel a non-refundable ticket and don't know what to do next. These steps didn't bothered me in my travel. So hopefully they wont in yours too. But I insist you read the terms and conditions of any airlines before booking the tickets. And I am no agent or professional to give a full proof remedy for such a problem.
Indigo customer care: 1800 180 38 38, (+91) 9910383838
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