HCMC – The rapid increase in Covid-19 cases via community transmission has prompted numerous air passengers to cancel their booked flights, following which Vietnam’s national aviation authority, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), urged local carriers to support passengers in this regard.
In an urgent dispatch to the domestic airlines, the CAAV asked them to quickly conduct ticket change and refund procedures and notify passengers through customer care hotlines, websites, ticketing offices and ticket agents.
The carriers can offer refunds in cash or vouchers with the approval of passengers. The ticket change and refund policy is also being applied to tickets with restricted conditions (non-changeable, non-reroutable, non-refundable) and to passengers who cannot fly as they are under quarantine or live in areas under lockdown, said CAAV.
Le Hong Ha, general director of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, told Dan Tri newspaper that the flight cancellation rate was 25-30%. Moreover, routes linking with Haiphong City were hugely affected with a sharp decline in the number of passengers, even though the carrier had stepped up anti-epidemic measures on these routes.
Vietnam Airlines is offering passengers of affected flights refunds in the form of a “Travel Voucher”. This refund policy can be applied to domestic tickets for flights scheduled to take off from January 29, to passengers who requested a refund and for flights being canceled, delayed or rescheduled due to the pandemic or as required by the authorities, Ha said.
Similarly, Bamboo Airways and Vietjet implemented a ticket change and refund program to support passengers.
