There’s panic among fliers booked on Dreamliners or the airline: Travel agents

In the aftermath of the tragic Air India crash that claimed over 240 lives, travel agents tell us that there's panic among travellers booked on other Dreamliners or the airline.“There is a lot of panic among fliers at the moment.

Many are cancelling their trips with the airline, which is unfortunate. People are calling us and saying they want to cancel their bookings with the airline, and some are also unwilling to travel on the Dreamliner.

A lot of my travellers currently in Europe are planning to cancel their trips with other Dreamliners as well,” shares Gurgaon-based travel agent Akash Rastogi.Delhi-based travel agent Sourabh Tiwari, however, shares that he hasn’t received any such concerns so far following the incident.

“I haven’t seen any change in our international bookings, but today, while I was booking a domestic tour with the airline, the client said, ‘ Woh airline mat book karo ’. The incident is unfortunate and shouldn’t be blamed on the airline,” he added.Delhi-based travel agent Muzammil Nazir shares that travellers are unlikely to cancel their plans but may switch carriers or upgrade to international airlines following the incident.

“I had an inbound group travelling to India on the same airline. They were asking me if there was an option to change it. People are checking if they can switch airlines, not cancelling their plans,” he tells us.Ravi Gosain, President, IATO, shares, “The tragic crash will undoubtedly leave a deep and lasting impact on the minds of travellers. So far, we have not directly heard concerns being expressed by our passengers regarding specific airlines or aircraft makes, but it is only natural that such thoughts will be in their minds going forward. However, we are seeing a noticeable increase in inquiries and questions. It is too early to fully assess the long-term impact on travel behaviour, but we do expect that the psychological effect of this incident will be significant.

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