Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan took to X on Sunday to slam Yatra, a travel agency company, alleging that the platform is "cheating customers". In a tweet, he shared his personal experience of booking a flight from Delhi to Istanbul on Yatra, which was cancelled by the airline, Indigo. Although the airline refunded the money to Yatra promptly, the platform falsely claimed that the refund hadn't been received when Mr Bhushan requested a refund. After repeated follow-ups, Yatra finally agreed to process the refund but failed to do so within the promised 24 hours, taking over two weeks.
This experience led Mr Bhushan to question Yatra's transparency and customer service, sparking a public outcry against the platform's alleged unfair practices.
"Is Yatra.com cheating customers? My flight from Delhi to Istanbul by Indigo, booked on Yatra, was cancelled by the airline. The airline refunded the money to Yatra the next day. When I claimed a refund on Yatra, a false message popped up that the airline had not refunded. On repeated follow-up calls, Yatra finally agrees to refund, and despite the assurance that it will be done in 24 hrs, no refund after 2 weeks," he wrote on X.
Here's the tweet:
Reacting to his complaint, Yatra wrote, "Dear Mr. Bhushan, Greetings from http://Yatra.com! We apologise for the inconvenience caused. We have received your query. Kindly allow us some time to review the details and assist you accordingly. We appreciate your patience. Regards, Yatra Care."
Many users criticised Yatra, sharing their own experiences of similar issues, such as delayed refunds, poor customer service, and lack of transparency. Some suggested alternatives like using other travel booking platforms or filing formal complaints. Others advised Mr Bhushan to escalate his issue to higher authorities or consumer protection agencies. One user wrote, "I never book flights from aggregators for the same reason. I just see the schedule of all flights and book from the respective airline website directly."
Another commented, "Better to go with a known agent whom you can call and ask. We may have digitalised, but the people behind the platforms who need to approve are still Indians who think of all the dubious ways to delay payments."
A third said, "If @Yatra_Care could do this to Mr. Prashant Bhushan, then one can imagine the plight of a common customer. Yatra has offered to refund even the convenience fees because it does not want to take the risk of being dragged to courts by Mr. Bhushan and then end up paying huge compensation too, along with big legal costs for fighting the case in courts. Mr. Bhushan should help other customers who are cheated by these kinds of service providers."
After facing backlash in the comments, Yatra posted a follow-up tweet stating that Mr Bhushan's refund had been processed and the amount had been credited back to his account. "Dear Mr. Bhushan, Thank you for your patience. We are pleased to inform you that a refund of INR 25,562.00 has been successfully processed from our end, including the Yatra convenience fee of INR 2,798, which has been refunded as a one-time gesture of goodwill," the company wrote.
