LUDHIANA: Even as the flight from Ludhiana to Kullu is yet to begin (the earlier announced date being July 5), bookings for the flight had already opened early this month. It may be recalled that the flight to Kullu was earlier scheduled to begin on May 30, and some travellers who had booked their tickets online were understood to have been given a refund once the flight stood cancelled. Bookings for the same flight — now set to begin on 5 July — have opened online again, even though suspense continues to prevail about the actual date the flight would begin.Reputed city-based psychiatrist Dr Ranjive Mahajan had got his ticket booked online in the Air Deccan flight from Kullu to Ludhiana through a travel agency. However, he later came to know the flight had not yet begun operating on the route. He said: “On 15 May, we had booked a ticket from Kullu to Ludhiana on Air Deccan through a travel agency. The ticket was for 9 June, but we found that though we had the ticket, the flight was yet to begin. Later, after facing problems due to cancellation of ticket, we booked a taxi from there. I must say the airline did refund the cost of the two tickets.”Mehtab Chopra of the travel agency which had booked the tickets for Dr Ranjive said Air Deccan had opened the bookings earlier, even as it did not have a flight operating between Kullu and Ludhiana. He added that a few persons may have independently booked the tickets online. However, he added that Dr Mahajan got a refund for his tickets.Meanwhile, even as Air Deccan is yet to come up with a date for the start of its flight from Delhi to Ludhiana, and then to Kullu and Shimla, one can book tickets for the same from 5 July on its website. The authorities at Sahnewal Airport , however, express doubts if Air Deccan would be able to operate the flight on the said date.“They have opened the booking a month ago, but are yet to start the flight. If they have to start the flight, they will inform us at least 15 days in advance to get all the necessary services here. But so far, they haven’t done that. So, I don’t think they will be able to operate the flight in the first week of July,” said a senior officer at the airport. He added that though the operator had opened the booking, it was refunding the money of customers after booking tickets. The officer said he did not see anything illegal in that practice, though customers were inconvenienced by the uncertainty of flight operations.

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