With News Norms Flying Set To Be Passenger Friendly

File Picture Courtesy : The Financial Express

Domestic air passengers will soon be able to avail of full refunds and additional compensation for flight delays/cancellations as the government put in the public domain a new ‘passenger charter’ for eliciting comments/suggestions before notifying them. The new air passenger charter seeks to amend current norms for charges incurred by travellers on cancellation and rescheduling of air travel, among other things.

However, the new compensation structure will apply only if it is found that the flight delay or cancellation was caused by the airline concerned.

The new norms are expected to be notified by July 15 after public comments on the draft charter have been sought by the Ministry of Civil Aviation within a month.

As per the proposed entitlements, passengers will get full refunds, additional compensation and more in case an airline is found to be at fault for the delay or flight cancellation.

Further , the aviation ministry has proposed a lock-in period of 24 hours from cancellation charges for flight tickets .
However, a ticket booked 96 hours (4 days) before the flight will not be eligible for the cancellation fee waiver.

“No cancellation charges will be levied if the tickets are cancelled within 24 hours of booking, provided the ticket is booked 96 hours before flight departure,” said Jayant Sinha, Mister of State for Aviation,