Air India Express cancellations: Will passengers get refund, will ticket prices soar?

Tata Group-owned Air India Express is in a soup. Flight disruptions at the low-budget carrier continued on Thursday (9 May) amid a shortage of staff. More than 100 flights have been cancelled since Tuesday night after a section of cabin crew called in sick and reportedly switched off their phones to protest against the alleged mismanagement of the airline.

About 15,000 flyers have been affected after their Air India Express flights were cancelled or delayed. Passenger woes are set to worsen as the Tata Group budget carrier is reportedly curtailing around 40 flights daily until 13 May.

How has the Air India Express crisis affected flyers? What recourse do they have? What is going on with the airlines?

Let’s take a closer look.

AI Express passengers hit by flight disruptions

Passengers at several airports, including Kochi, Calicut, Delhi and Bengaluru, faced trouble due to flight disruptions. At least 14 flights of Air India Express were nixed from 4 am to 4 pm on Wednesday at Delhi airport.

Both domestic and international flights were hit.

Many flyers were also stranded at various airports in Kerala after their flights did not take off on Thursday for a second day in a row.

Passengers at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kannur airports were left seething and disappointed after their flights to Gulf nations were cancelled at the last minute, reported PTI.

“I was assured by Air India Express yesterday that I can travel to Qatar on Thursday. But they did not keep their promise. I was told at the last moment that my flight has been cancelled again for the second consecutive day,” a flyer at Karipur airport in Kozhikode told the media.

A woman, who was flying from Kannur to Sharjah with her husband and twins, said she had to rejoin her workplace on 9 May but the airline was providing her with a 10 May ticket from Kochi. “What would be the point of me travelling on 10 May? If I do not reach there before 9 May, my boss will say not to come and I will lose my job,” she reportedly said.

The aggrieved passenger said that her flight was scheduled for Sharjah on Tuesday night and she had been waiting at the airport since then. She alleged that no accommodation or other facilities were offered by Air India Express.

Another aggrieved flyer travelling to the Gulf region, who claimed his work visa would expire on 9 May, told a TV channel that he was given a ticket for today after his Wednesday flight was cancelled. “When I arrived here (at Thiruvananthapuram airport), the airline told me that the flight was cancelled. If I do not reach my place of work by tonight, my visa will expire and I will lose my job,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Complaints have also been pouring on social media. Users on X mentioned that they were unable to get through
Air India Express
’ customer service.

Passengers also tried to confirm their flights’ status on the airline’s post about refund or rescheduling of the affected flights.

A user also asked the airline to provide an alternative flight instead of offering refunds or rescheduling option.

Scores of flights were also delayed, irking passengers in Kerala airports who were informed about it only after the security checks.

As per The Hindu report, airfares to the Gulf region have soared following the service disruptions of Air India Express, which operates over 200 international flights per week from Kerala.

Flights from Kochi to the Gulf are available at over Rs 40,000. An Etihad Airways flight to Dubai cost Rs 63,338 from Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, the report added.

“When there is a major network disruption, the demand for seats will increase, with passengers looking for ways to reach their destinations through other means. Naturally, this will drive the fares up, at least on a short-term basis,” KV Muralidharan, president, Kerala Association of Travel Agents, told The Hindu.

What can passengers do?

Flyers can opt for a full refund if their flight is cancelled, or delayed beyond three hours, they can get a “full refund or reschedule to a later date without any fees on Tia on WhatsApp (+91 6360012345) or on airindiaexpress.com,” an Air India Express spokesperson said.

Passengers can go to the ‘Flight Status’ section on the airline’s website to check the real-time update.

The spokesperson said the airline will operate 283 flights on Thursday. “We have mobilised all resources and Air India will support us by operating on 20 of our routes. However, 85 of our flights stand cancelled and we urge our guests booked to fly with us to check if their flight is affected by the disruption before heading to the airport.”

Air India Express operates around 400 flights daily, including 250 domestic and 120 international.

Passengers could further bear the brunt due to AI Express cancellations amid high demand and already strained capacity. As many as 75 IndiGo planes are grounded due to engine issues, GoAir is bankrupt, SpiceJet has reduced flights, and “deliveries of new aircraft from Airbus and crisis-ridden Boeing have been slower than expected,” reported Times of India (TOI).

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Why is AI Express staff protesting?

The issue stems from the ongoing merger of Air India Express with Tata-owned AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India).

The crew of Air India Express are protesting against the new employment terms of the Tata Group-owned airline, sources told NDTV. They have reportedly alleged inequality in treatment.

The airline has about 1,400 cabin crew, including around 500 senior members. Over 200 cabin crew began reporting sick starting Tuesday night, triggering the crisis.

In a letter to Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran on Wednesday, the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), representing a section of the airline’s cabin crew members, said, “Salaries, experience and merits are being disregarded, with internal job postings now being filled by candidates external to Air India Express, by passing qualified internal candidates”.

As per PTI sources, the airline has issued termination notices to at least 25 cabin crew who called in sick suddenly. The termination letter read the mass leave “clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason”, reported NDTV.

The management has also reportedly asked the protesting staff to resume work by 4 pm today or face action.

Air India Express said in its statement that it is taking “appropriate steps against certain individuals as their actions have caused grave inconvenience to thousands of our guests”.