Want To Cancel Or Change Your Flight Ticket? Now, no charges for flight ticket cancellation in 48 hrs
Mumbai: India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has updated air ticket refund norms to make cancellations and changes simpler for flyers.
Under the new rules, passengers can cancel or amend airline tickets without extra charges within 48 hours of booking. Airlines must complete refunds within 14 working days and cannot charge for simple name corrections if identified within 24 hours of booking.
These changes are part of an updated set of ticket refund rules aimed at cutting delays and confusion that were flagged by many passengers, especially during the IndiGo flight disruption last December.
Passengers can now cancel or change tickets without any additional fees if done within 48 hours of purchase. This applies to bookings made directly with airlines, provided certain conditions are met. The rule gives flyers a short grace period to rethink plans without penalty.
If there’s a spelling error or similar mistake in a name, airlines must correct it without extra charges if passengers point it out within 24 hours of booking — again, for bookings made on the airline’s own website. This helps avoid unnecessary charges for simple errors.
For tickets bought through travel agents or third-party portals, airlines must now take responsibility for the refund and ensure it’s completed within 14 working days. That’s an improvement from older norms and aims to reduce long waits for money to return after cancellations.
There are also changes related to cancellations due to medical emergencies, though the regulator didn’t spell out the details in its public update. The aim is to give passengers more flexibility if health issues force them to cancel plans.
Passengers often face delays and confusion over refunds, especially when tickets are booked far in advance or through agents. Under the new norms, the airline, not the travel agent, carries the onus of a refund, which should help prevent customers from being bounced between multiple parties when trying to recover their money.
