I had recently availed the cleartrip.com buy-one-get-one-free offer and booked 5 tickets using free coupon codes (and hence paying for the airport taxes and fuel surcharge). The Trip IDs are 1008109011 & 1007301811.

The offer policy claimed that the tickets are non-refundable (a standard term used by all airline agents for denoting tickets where the base fare is non-refundable but taxes and surcharges are refundable!).

I canceled the tickets on August 16, 2010 and received a mail saying that the refund amount would be calculated and the company would revert in 2 days. However, since then I have received no communication from the Company and neither has the amount been refunded. On contacting the helpdesk, I was told that the money deducted for airport taxes and fuel surcharge has also been retained by the Company!

This is extremely disconcerting as the website uses the common term "non-refundable" to refer to all tickets where the base amount is non-refundable but the remaining amount (taxes) is returned. I also believe it is unlawful to retain amount which had been deducted as airport taxes/fees. The spirit of "free" tickets is not to "cheat" loyal customers who go by the "normally" used jargon and avail of these special offers.

In the event that the company does not wish to refund my amount and decides to retain any money deducted for airline taxes, I would like this clearly highlighted in an official communication such that it is admissible in other customer complain forums and the court of law.

Regards
Nikhilesh
nikhilesh.goel@gmail.com