New Delhi, May 2 (IANS): A section of grounded Jet Airways staff, especially cabin crew, have suddenly found their pre-paid forex cards frozen.

Talking to IANS, an employee said he had discovered that he cannot access his forex card even as he had accumulated a few hundred dollars on it.

"There are many cabin staff who had complained of their cards being blocked or inaccessible. It has come as a shock for us," said the employee who did not wish to be identified.

A Jet Airways spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on the issue.

Cabin crew, pilots and other staff operating international flights are given forex for expenses overseas and the same is credited on their cards. On many occasions, they do not use the card and the money remains credited in the cards.

As per an estimate, nearly 1,300 Jet staff have been affected by the blockage of the card. Many of them had $2,000-3000 on their forex cards.

Axis Bank, the private bank whose cards were used by the staff, has maintained that they had no role in it.

Weizmann Forex, a card distributor for Axis Bank with Jet Airways as one of its clients, is learnt to have blocked some of the cards in order to securitize against receivables of about Rs 1.62 crore.