Ministry of Civil Aviation ensures to take more Passenger Centric Initiatives

Mr Raju said, “Now Airlines shall refund all statutory taxes and user development fee, passenger service fee to the passengers in case of cancellation or none utilisation of ticket”.

According to the proposed guidelines, an airline has to pay up to Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 as compensation if an alternate flight is not offered within one hour and beyond 24 hours, respectively. This will be applicable even on promotional tickets sold by airlines like those in fire sales. The option of holding the refund amount in credit shell by the airlines shall be the prerogative of the passenger and not a default practice of the airline. “The refund process shall be completed within 15 working days in case of domestic travel and 30 working days in case of global travel”, said aviation secretary RN Choubey.

“Under no circumstances the cancellation charge shall be more than the basic fare”, the proposed guideline from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said. Airlines have been asked to keep a variable checked-in baggage fare between 15-20 kg, and that passengers be charged Rs 100 per kg for excess baggage less than 20 kg. At present, Rs 300 is levied for every kg of baggage beyond the 15-kg limit, while only Air India allows free baggage up to 23 kg.

If the airline overshoots the 24-hour margin, the passenger will need to be paid four times the basic fare plus four times the airline fuel charge, subject to a maximum of Rs 20,000.

Airlines, airport operators, security personnel, customs and immigration shall conduct training programme, as per training module provided by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, for all their personnel engaged in passenger services for sensitization and developing awareness for assisting persons with disability or reduced mobility.

“It will be the responsibility of the airline to see that the refund of the ticket takes place on time”, Union aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told reporters.

Proposed: Penalty on no-shows and cancellations can not exceed the basic fare and all taxes and fee shall have to be refunded. “We don’t want to push up the cost of tickets for the majority”, he said.

The quantum would go up to 400 per cent of booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge and the maximum would be Rs 20,000 where the alternative flight is provided after 24 hours.

For denied boarding and flight cancellations, DGCA proposed revised compensation structures depending on the arrangement of an alternative flight for the traveller.

His remarks came days after he ruled out the possibility of capping airfares in the backdrop of passenger complaints of arbitrary tariff hikes, saying competition among the airlines will take care of the problem.

“So do we want to make it a regulated affair or not?”

A recent analysis by a travel portal showed that airfare decreased up to 35% on domestic routes and up to 16% on worldwide routes during April-June this year compared to same period last year. “The examination of the issue is very much continuing”, he said. The analysis was carried in the wake of concerns expressed by Parliamentarians about steep fluctuations in air ticket prices.