India's new airline rules will allow travellers to get compensation for delayed, cancelled flights

• Air travellers in India will be able to cancel or modify tickets without any charges within 24 hours of booking.
  
• The new passenger chart released by India’s civil aviation ministry aims to make it easier for air passengers to claim compensation for delayed flights cancel flights or in case of denial in boarding.
  
• In case the flight is delayed for six hours or more is the airlines will have to inform the passengers at least a day before or will have to compensate the passengers with full ticket cost.
  
• Airlines will have to provide free accommodation to people’s flight is delayed for 6 hours or more during 8 PM to 3 AM.
  
  

In a big relief for air travellers in india, passengers will be able to claim compensation for the flights cancelled within 24 hours of booking if it is scheduled after a week.

Additionally, air travellers will also be paid for any cancellations, delays or boarding denials.

The “passenger charter” released by Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday lays out the rights of air travellers in the country.

The new charter amended the norms for charges incurred by travellers on cancellation and rescheduling of air travel, among others.

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

According to the charter, if a flight is expected to be delayed by more than six hours, the airline would have to arrange for an alternate flight within that time or refund the ticket cost with full amount.

In case of over six-hour delay, the airline would have to inform passengers 24 hours in advance of the original departure time, it said.

"The airlines must inform about flight cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure and arrange alternate flights or refund," said the charter, released at the Aviation Conclave 2019.

if the passengers are not informed about the flight cancellation schedule, the airline will have to either pay them a compensation of ₹5,000-10,000 depending on the travel time or one way base fare along with airline fuel charges, according to media reports.

In case of overbooking, the airline must provide an alternate flight scheduled to depart within one hour of the original flight's departure time. If the airline is unable to do so, it would have to pay compensation, the charter said.

The airlines will also have to provide free accommodation if there’s a delay of 24 hours or more from the scheduled departure time communicated earlier or if the flight is scheduled between 8pm to 3am and is delayed for six hours, according to media reports.

Airlines in India are earning additional revenues from ticket cancellation. The move in intended to improve the aviation sector in the country. As per the ministry, the cost is not going to have any impact on the revenue of the airlines.

(With IANS)