The Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday announced several sops for air passengers including a cap on cancellation charges, steep reduction in fee for carrying 5 kg extra baggage in an aircraft and enhanced compensation for denying boarding by the airline. It also announced some facilities to be provided by airlines and airports for people with reduced mobility.
Both domestic and international airlines operating to and from India will not be allowed to charge cancellation fees more than the basic fare of a ticket. In some cases, it was observed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that cancellation charges were higher than the cost of the ticket due to separate penalty levied by both airline and the travel portal.
The government has asked the airlines to refund all the statutory taxes levied on a cancelled ticket including User Development Fee, Airport Development Fee or Passenger Service Fee. Also, the refund process will have to be completed within 15 working days in case of domestic travel and 30 working days in case of international travel. “It will be the responsibility of the airline to see that the refund of the ticket takes place on time,” Minister of State Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said at a press conference here announcing the passenger-centric initiatives.
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“The intention behind the move is that when we are packing and carrying our luggage, we don’t know its exact weight. But when we land at the airport, we sometimes find that we are carrying excess luggage beyond two kg then airlines can charge very heavy excess baggage fee,” Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said.
Denied Boarding
The government has proposed that passengers who report to the airport on time before the scheduled departure of the flight and are denied boarding by airlines will get double the price of basic fare and airline fuel charge component of the ticket subject to a maximum compensation of Rs 10,000. This compensation amount will be given to passengers, along with the ticket to the next possible flight within 24 hours of the scheduled departure of the original flight. In case, passengers are given alternate flight beyond 24 hours of the departure of the original flight, passengers will need to be paid four times the basic fare and airline fuel charge of a ticket.
However, there will be no compensation if the passenger is accommodated in another flight which leaves within an hour of the original flight.
Differently-abled passengers
The government proposed that airport should provide towable ramp for wheelchair passengers in case the airport doesn’t have ambulift or aerobridge facility.
Also, airlines have been asked to develop procedures and prominently display it on their website for making advance request for stretchers by differently-abled passengers.