Centre releases charter on rights of air travellers

PASSENGERS WILL NOW BE ABLE TO MAKE CHANGES IN BOOKINGS, CANCEL TRIPS WITHOUT PAYING A FEE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RESERVING A SEAT AND SEVEN DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE

NEW DELHI: India’s civil aviation ministry is ready to notify a longawaited charter of passenger rights that, while diluting some provisions that were in the draft at the request of airlines, does increase the protection and compensation amounts for passengers in cases of deficient service.

For instance, airline passengers will be able to make changes in flight bookings and cancel trips without paying a fee within 24 hours of reserving a seat and seven days before departure, according to the charter.

Even cancelling a ticket after 24 hours of booking a seat won’t be too expensive. The aviation ministry has asked airlines to refund such passengers the user development fee, airport develop- ment fee, statutory taxes and passenger service fee apart from the basic fare and fuel surcharge. For lost baggage, compensation for which wasn’t stipulated so far for domestic passengers, a maximum compensation of ₹20,000 with per kg compensation not exceeding ₹350.

“The passenger charter, notification of which will be issued in a day or two, basically lists out the entitlement of passengers. Some of these existed before, but passengers were not aware of them and some we have introduced for the first time. Passenger will get a copy of it with the ticket,” a civil aviation ministry official said.