How I got my credit card to refund my Jet Airways cancelled tickets

How I got my credit card to refund my Jet Airways cancelled tickets

I have meant to write this post for a while now. A lot many people have been worried about recovering their ticket monies, which are stuck with Jet Airways. The airline has shut down, of course, and the reason it shut down was that it was out of cash. I elaborated the other day about how to get your Jet Airways Refund after shutdown if you were booked with a travel agent.

Personally, I was scheduled to fly to Paris with Jet Airways this coming week, and that ticket was booked before the troubles started. In the first place, I was booked on a long circuitous route, BOM-MAA-CDG-BOM, because of two reasons. I wanted to experience and review the flight on the Chennai – Paris leg as well, apart from the fact that it was selling cheaper.

Eventually, after the announcement of the grounding, I got an email overnight that my entire travel plan was cancelled, and hence, I needed to apply for a refund. Now, for all the good things Jet Airways has done in their lifetime, they did not have to make people go through this. Directly process the refunds to the original mode of payment.

I filed for a refund the next morning, and I heard back from Jet Airways a few days later, that they had cancelled the ticket, and a refund would be due to me in 10-12 working days. So, I waited for the refund to arrive, just as I presume everyone else did.

Eventually, after 12 days when the refund did not arrive, I picked up the phone and called the bank. As a credit card user, I was still protected in spite of Jet Airways not pushing through the refund. This particular ticket was booked on the JetPrivilege HDFC Bank Diners Club Black card, and all I had to do was to dispute the transaction. I placed the call and was immediately sent a dispute form by the bank.

A bit more about credit card dispute mechanisms: dispute mechanisms are provided on credit cards for various kind of transactions. For instance, let’s say there was a fraud on your card, or if a product or service was not provided but charged for. The credit is usually temporary, and the bank and the merchant then clarify it amongst themselves. Remember, if you try and chargeback a legit charge, it will come back sooner than later on your bill, and you will have to pay it up.

In this case, we explained to HDFC Bank that the ticket was cancelled and the due timeline for providing a refund was now over. So, the bank needs to go and settle this with the merchant, since we had done everything in our power to make this work. They asked for supporting documents and emails, and we sent them a copy of everything as per their request.

Eventually, two days after filling up the form and sending it back, a temporary credit for 45 days was issued, which we are assured will become permanent. HDFC Bank was very professional in their approach and guided us through the whole process.

I’ve also heard from others, for instance, those with an Amex Card, that their Chargebacks were done on the phone itself. So, if you have still not received your refund from Jet Airways, or your OTA, and you have made a ticket booking using your credit card, I suggest you call your bank and dispute the transaction. Eventually, you will get your money back only once, and when the refund arrives from Jet Airways or the OTA, the bank will keep it because it has already refunded you your money.

Bottomline

Eventually, the reason I keep harping about the use of a credit card is not just for the points you earn, but also because a credit card is a much more refined product than, let’s say UPI and net banking. A credit card has purchase protection, which, in this case, got me my money back sooner than how it was going to come back from the merchant. And this is not just a feature limited to top-end credit cards.