The Indian DGCA proposes rules for more customer friendly refunds on Air Tickets

I’ve been out of action for the better part of two days, but while I’ve been away, the Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA for short), has proposed some new rules to grant refunds to the customers, and invited their inputs. There are some interesting updates here:

New customer-friendly proposals by the DGCA

The changes proposed by the DGCA are as follows:

• In the event of a ticket purchase through a travel agent/portal, the onus of refund shall lie with the airline, as agents are their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure that the refund process is completed within 21 working days. 
• The airline shall provide a “Look-in option” for a period of 48 hours after booking a ticket. During this period, passengers can cancel or amend their ticket without incurring any additional charges, except for the normal prevailing fare for the revised flight for which the ticket is being amended. This facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than 5 days for domestic flights and 15 days for international flights from the booking date when the ticket is booked directly through the airline’s website. Beyond 48 hours of the initial booking time, this option is not available, and the passenger must pay the relevant cancellation fees for the amendment. 
• The airline shall not levy any additional charge for corrections in the name of the same person when the passenger points out the error within 24 hours of making the booking, provided the ticket was booked directly through the airline’s website. 
• The airlines may refund the tickets or provide a credit shell in case of ticket cancellations by the passenger arising due to a Medical Emergency. 

What are the implications?

Almost all of these implications are beneficial to the customer, provided they are successful. I expect airlines to push back on this, since it is not in their best interest. Let’s look at them one by one.

• In the event of a ticket purchase through a travel agent/portal, the onus of refund shall lie with the airline, as agents are their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure that the refund process is completed within 21 working days.
  • In this case, the airline is being held responsible as the class monitor, since in many instances, the agent hides behind the fact that they have not received a refund from the airline, which is true at least half the time. Now, the airline will have to ensure that the money is refunded. It will be interesting to see how this works, but I’ll keep an open mind.
• The airline shall provide a “Look-in option” for a period of 48 hours after booking a ticket. During this period, passengers can cancel or amend their ticket without incurring any additional charges, except for the normal prevailing fare for the revised flight for which the ticket is being amended. This facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than 5 days for domestic flights and 15 days for international flights from the booking date when the ticket is booked directly through the airline’s website. Beyond 48 hours of the initial booking time, this option is not available, and the passenger must pay the relevant cancellation fees for the amendment.
  • Although not well known, customers are already granted a 24-hour look-in period, which means that if they book a ticket and need to cancel it for any reason within 24 hours, for domestic travel, they receive a full refund of their paid amount, no questions asked. This applies to trips booked at least 7 days in advance. Now, the airlines are being asked to extend the look-in period to 48 hours from 24 hours, and the minimum time before which this is valid will now be 5 days.
  • Secondly, although there has been no requirement to make it applicable to international flight bookings so far, this will be added now.
  • A new curb is coming in, it seems. While travel agent bookings were previously covered under the rules for receiving a full refund, this is now proposed to be made applicable only to tickets booked directly through the airline’s website.
• The airline shall not levy any additional charge for corrections in the name of the same person when the passenger points out the error within 24 hours of making the booking, provided the ticket was booked directly through the airline’s website.
  • This is great, all I have to say here.
• The airlines may refund the tickets or provide a credit shell in case of ticket cancellations by the passenger arising due to a Medical Emergency.
  • Another good initiative that benefits the airline without costing them anything, and also saves the passenger some money. Although not a policy, many Indian carriers have been making suitable exceptions for medical emergencies when the customer has been able to convince them of the genuineness of their case.

The proof of the pudding is in eating it, and for that, the regulator and the industry must disseminate the rules widely so that everyone is aware of them. For instance, the rule regarding 24-hour cancellation for free in case of a booking made at least 7 days in advance, airlines don’t proactively inform their customers, and hence most air travellers are unaware.

Bottomline

The Indian DGCA is developing a new, more customer-friendly refund regime and has requested public input on this initiative. The changes include a longer look-in period and more lenient rules for cancellation in the event of a medical emergency, as well as more flexible rules regarding name changes and other aspects. All of these sound like reasonable proposals to give customers more rights within the current system. I hope they are implemented at the earliest.

What do you think of the new rules around refunds?

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.

Signup for our newsletter and receive daily updates!

Subscribe

Loading...

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.