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As the political crisis in the Maldives continues to escalate, SpiceJet and Air India have announced waiving ticket change and cancellation charges. Air India, on Thursday, announced that in the situation in the Maldives, penalties applicable on re-issuance, date change, no-show, cancellation and refund charges have been waived for the period between February 5 and February 20.
Following Air India’s decision, passengers of SpiceJet began demanding waiver too. On Friday, SpiceJet announced full refund and charges waiver on ticket cancellation. “For travel period between 8 – 14 February to and from Male, passengers opting to cancel their tickets will be offered full refund and cancellation charges will be waived off,” Reuters quoting SpiceJet reported. “For all change requests, SpiceJet will waiver the change charges only and will charge the fare difference. Passengers who do not want to travel, will be processed full refund.”
Following the advisory of @MEAQuery about avoid traveling to Maldives, I want to cancel my @flyspicejet tickets to Maldives’s. But @flyspicejet customer care is refusing to provide full refund of tickets. Please resolve @flyspicejet (cc:- @MEAQuery) @consaff
— Bharat R Patel (@bharatrpatel18) February 7, 2018
#FlyAI : In view of prevailing situation in Maldives, applicable penalties of re-issuance, date change, no-show, cancellation & refund charges for travel from / to Male for both domestic and international flts, stand waived for travel during the period 05th Feb’18 to 20th Feb’18.
— Air India (@airindiain) February 8, 2018
On February 6, the Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement advised Indian nationals to defer all non-essential travels to Male, the capital of the Maldives, and other atolls until further notice. Indian expatriates in the Maldives were also asked to exercise due caution in public and avoid public gatherings.
The Maldives crisis began on February 1 when the Supreme Court asked the government led by President Abdulla Yameen to release political prisoners including former president Mohamed Nasheed, saying that they were not given fair trials. However, the government refused to budge and, instead, declared the State of Emergency, suspending constitutional rights of the people of the Maldives.
The Maldives, which is grappling with the political crisis for quite some time now, is one of the top honeymoon destinations in the world. In 2017, nearly 84,000 Indians travelled to the archipelago in the Indian ocean.
