KATHMANDU, JUNE 17

Travel agent Ganesh Kamti has been trying to get refund for failed hotel bookings that he had made to quarantine his seven air passengers in Doha last year, but Qatar Airways, which owes him dues continues to pass the buck.

Kamti made a total payment of 10,625 Riyal (almost Rs 400,000) to Qatar Airways for hotel bookings of seven passengers on 8 July, 11 July, 20 July, 10 August and 22 August, 2022 through the bank account of Maheshan Kumar Chitajallu, an Indian national based in Qatar.

Chitajallu's account number at Qatar Islamic Bank is 015223610038.

Mekanies Hotel Booking references for failed transactions are QQF3628E, QQ61BF93, QQA743FE and QQ2C664B. These hotel bookings were made for passengers, including Ibrahim Khan Pathan, Najir Miya Ansari, Mohmmad Sabir, Makeshwor Yadav, Radheshyam Yadav, Ram Pukar Yadav and Shreeram Yadav.

Transaction number for Najir Miya Ansari is FT211921R5C7K and for Mohmmad Sabir is FT- 21201L2FDX. Similarly, transaction numbers for Makeshwor Yadav, Radheshyam Yadav, and Ram Pukar Yadav is FT212340FW5R.

As told by Qatar Airways, Kamti approached Discover Qatar - the Destination Management Company for Qatar Airways. But the latter informed Kamti that it did not receive the money for the failed bookings.

On 16 June 2022, Discover Qatar informed Kamti that there was no amount to refund him from its end. 'If a failed booking amount is not reversed manually, the system will automatically reverse it after 14 days from the transaction date,' Discover Qatar wrote to Kamti after his reminder email.

Kamti said Discover Qatar told him to contact the concerned bank for the refund, but the bank told him to produce authorisation number so that they could send the money to his account. Qatari Airways and Discover Qatar refuse to send him the authorisation letter. 'I have proof that I booked hotel through online system, but Qatar Airways does not take any responsibility to refund my money. Qatar Airways and Discover Qatar passes the buck to each other,' Kamti said.

He said Qatar Airways had refunded him for the failed bookings in the past.

On November 21, Salome Vaz from Discover Qatar wrote to Kamti saying his bookings had failed. He further wrote, 'Therefore, the amount should be reversed back to your account within 14 days. If in case the amount has not been reversed back, kindly raise a chargeback dispute with the relevant parties in charge of the bank account with regard to your failed transaction.'

Kamti said he had written multiple times to Discover Qatar, and Qatar Airlines seeking refund for his failed bookings but they kept referring to QIB without taking any concrete steps to refund his money.

Kamti even wrote angry mails to Qatar Airways and contacted the Nepal Airlines office too, but the later only kept buying time.

Initially, Qatar Airlines had communicated to Kamti that refund would be sent to him within 60 days.

'How can a reputed airlines like Qatar Airlines hold somebody's money for one year without any reason?' Kamti wondered.

Maheshan Kumar Chitajallu who had paid to Qatar Airways on behalf of Ganesh Kamti told THT that Discover Qatar told him that it had sent the money back to QIB for failed bookings but the bank told him that it had not received the amount from Discover Qatar. QIB also told Chitajallu that if Discover Qatar had sent the amount to it, then the sender should provide the reference number for the same. 'Discover Qatar, however, has refused to provide reference number,' Chitajallu added.

'I was told by the bank that they could accept applications for unsettled amount only within 120 days,' Chitajallu said.

Sales Manage of Qatar Airways Kathmandu Office Sarik Bogati said Kamti had not properly contacted the concerned office for his grievances. He said he had forwarded Kamti's complaint to Qatar Airways and was awaiting the headquarters' response. He expected Qatar Airways headquarters' response anytime soon as Eid vacation was over.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.