Ministry To Remove Cancellation Fee For Air Tickets Cancelled Within 24 Hours Of Booking

Civil Aviation Ministry will soon introduce a new reform for the convenience of air travellers.

Passengers travelling by airlines in India will not have to pay any cancellation fee if they cancel their tickets within 24 hours of booking it.

Here are the details about the new cancellation fee rules-

• The customer will not have to pay cancellation charges on the sole condition that the air ticket is bought 96 hours prior to the flights departure time.
• In case the passenger is informed about a cancelled flight between 2 weeks to 24 hours before the scheduled departure, the airline has to offer an alternative flight within 2 hours of the departure time.
• The cancellation fees and rules regarding it have to be printed on the air ticket.

Airlines in India, however, have shown their displeasure towards these proposed changes saying that if new rules are implemented, it will lead to a rise in airfares.

According to experts, these rules will have a massive impact on air ticket prices since airfares in India are already at a lower level as compared to other countries.

Currently, every airline has a cancellation policy of their own. For example –

• IndiGo charges its passengers a minimum of Rs 3000 on cancelling flight tickets
• In case of GoAir, a passenger has to pay Rs 2950 for cancelling the ticket within 2 hours of the flight’s departure time.

Airlines like Vistara and Jet Airways allow their passengers to modify or make cancellations for free within 24 hours of booking the ticket, but the government is looking to make this a standard rule across all airlines in India.

The Minister of State of Civil Aviation, Mr Jayant Sinha, has said that the ministry will look into all these arguments before they implement these reforms.

The ministry will put these rules into effect from 15th July 2018 if the proposed air passenger charter is approved.