New Delhi: In a good news for airline passengers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced new revised refund norms under which the passengers can cancel or modify their tickets without paying additional charges within 48 hours of booking, subject to certain conditions, after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) revised refund norms.
Under the amended civil aviation requirements (CAR) for ‘Refund of Airline Tickets to Passengers of Public Transport Undertakings’, airlines have also been barred from levying any extra charge for correction of a passenger’s name, if the error is flagged within 24 hours of booking and the ticket was purchased directly through the airline’s website.
The DGCA said, “In case of purchase of a ticket through travel agent/portal, onus of refund shall lie with the airlines as agents are their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure that the refund process is completed within 14 working days.”
It also stated that the airline shall provide “Look-in option” for a period of 48 hours after booking ticket. “During this period passenger can cancel or amend the ticket without any additional charges, except for the normal prevailing fare for the revised flight for which the ticket is sought to be amended. This facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than 7 days for domestic flight and 15 days for international flight from booking date when ticket is booked directly through airline website. Beyond 48 hours of initial booking time, this option is not available and the passenger has to pay the relevant cancellation fees for amendment,” it stated.
The revised CAR, issued on February 24, also introduces changes to norms governing ticket cancellations in case of medical emergencies faced by passengers.
The CAR prescribes minimum requirements for refund of ticket purchased by persons/passengers with respect to air transport undertakings including scheduled domestic/non-scheduled operators/ foreign carriers operating to/from India.
The new directive came in the wake of the issue of refund of tickets by airlines, which has become a major source of grievance amongst airline passengers. A large number of complaints are regularly received which can broadly be divided into the categories that includes delay in refund of unused tickets, the amount which is refunded by the airlines against cancelled tickets, policy of not to refund the ticket amount but to adjust against tickets to be purchased by the passenger for future travel in the same airline that too valid for a limited period of time.
While the Government is committed not to interfere in the commercial practices of the airlines, the volume of the complaints necessitates some affirmative action to safeguard the interest of the traveling public, the DGCA said.
The DGCA also pointed out that the matter was discussed in several meetings with the airlines with no improvement in the system adopted by airlines for refund of tickets.
“It is now considered that the onus rests with the Government to fix some minimum bench marks, as far as the refund policy is concerned in order to stem the growing dissatisfaction among the passengers regarding the refund procedures adopted by some airlines,” it said.