Students’ travel tickets to be exchanged free of charge due to extended winter vacation

As anomalous cold weather is expected in Uzbekistan next week, vacation days have been extended for all educational institutions, especially universities.

According to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, the winter vacation period for students of higher and professional educational institutions and academic lyceums has been extended until January 18.

It is noted that the classes will start from this day, during this period, the current salaries of pedagogues and other employees of educational organizations will be preserved, and the specified classes will be intensively taught during the academic year.

Information was also provided on previously purchased travel tickets.

“In order to create favorable conditions for students to return to their educational institutions, the deadline for granting a 50% discount on the fares of air and railway tickets has been extended until January 18. Air and railway tickets purchased before January 9 will be exchanged for the relevant period free of charge.

In addition, in connection with the extension of the holiday, additional seats (flights/tours) will be allocated in the air and railways,” the ministry said.

Uzbekistan Railways JSC informed Kun.uz that tickets purchased on the basis of a discount can be returned at railway ticket offices, and tickets purchased electronically can be returned at chipta.railway.uz. The ticket is 100% refundable.

Also, tickets purchased electronically can be returned through the “Ticket Return” section on the site. In this case, the ticket money will be returned to the plastic card within 24 hours.

The tickets purchased offline can be returned to the ticket office for a full refund or exchange for a train of another date.

Uzbekistan Airways has not yet confirmed the message of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. Kamola Ikromova, spokeswoman of the airline, said that it is not yet clear whether the tickets will be exchanged free of charge.

“There is no clear answer yet, we are waiting for the management’s reply. This issue will be resolved by December 6. 2 options are expected: either the tickets will be exchanged for free, as last year, or they will be booked with a small fine. Students are ticketed for current flights, which may also be a problem if there are no seats on subsequent flights. We will define it out sooner or later. Because it is not clear which form the leadership will approve,” she said.