Mar. 21—NEW DELHI — Twenty-nine-year-old Lipika Kankaria divides her time between the US and India. She lives with her husband in San Francisco, but is pursuing a PhD at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur.
Kankaria wanted to visit India on 2 May and booked her tickets nearly four months in advance—in January. In the world of aviation, booking early usually ensures a better deal on tickets.
However, her plans didn’t go as expected. On 24 February, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, throwing struggling airline companies, still recovering from covid-19 pandemic blues, into further turmoil.
Within a few days of the first missiles raining down on Ukraine, the global commercial aviation map was altered and…