The government has ordered all airlines to assure tickets issued using the now-withdrawn Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes straight from counters at airports are "non-refundable" following an unexpected wave in such bookings since the high-value currencies were demonetised two days ago.

After the withdrawal of Rs.500 and Rs.1000, the government has allowed  the use of old notes for select purposes, covering purchasing tickets from counters for air travel, train journey and travel in government-run buses till November 11.

The government's directive to airline executives came between concerns that improper elements could be using air ticket booking as a means to transform their illegal cash into legal transactions by canceling the bookings to get the refund in form of new notes.

Sources said, "the directive came from the top level in the government.

Aviation regulator DGCA has asked the airlines to strictly make sure customers booking through counters at airports using the withdrawn Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes are not able to cancel or get any refund for such tickets."

While there has been no official report from the government and DGCA about the directive, some airlines have already stated that air tickets booked in the last 48 hours using old currency notes will not be refunded or canceled.

Airline officials said, "there has been a significant jump in the over-the-counter booking of flight tickets since the government announced the demonetization."

 "We generally see bookings at the airport counters to the tune of Rs. 20-25 lakh per day. However, in the last 48 hours, it has risen significantly to around Rs. 1 crore, which is almost a four-fold jump," no-frills airline SpiceJet's spokesperson Ajay Jasra told PTI.

 In a tweet, full-service carrier Vistara said "tickets sold at airport ticket counters with Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes are strictly non-refundable".

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BY M. DIVYA SRI