A cancelled flight can prove to be quite disruptive. There could be a host of reasons behind these cancellations, including unfavourable weather conditions, a natural calamity, or events involving security risks.
Along with being concerned about the disruption in travels, passengers might find themselves worried about their money and the cost of the flights. According to reports, between January 2022 and September 2024, 25,500 flights were cancelled, which affected nearly 10.67 flyers throughout the country.
While cancelled flights are becoming a widespread problem, here are a few things that passengers must know about compensations around these cancelled flights and what the airlines owes travellers for the same.
According to guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), when a flight is cancelled, the airline is either required to book an alternate flight, a subsequent flight or another airline’s flight, or provide you a full refund of the ticket, in case you are not ready to explore any of the alternate options.
As per the passenger charter released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, if a passenger is informed of flight cancellation less than two weeks prior but up to 24 hours of the scheduled departure time, then the airline is supposed to offer them an alternate flight or provide a full refund, whichever the passenger chooses to do.
However, in case a passenger is not informed according to the above provisions or has missed a connecting flight booked on the same ticket number, then the airline should either provide an alternate flight or provide compensation depending on the duration of the block time.
In case you opt for an alternate choice, like a subsequent flight or another airline’s flight, the airline cannot demand any additional cost from the passenger. The airline will have to bear this additional cost.
In case a flight has been cancelled only a few hours before its scheduled take off time and the passenger chooses to opt for an alternate flight that is scheduled a few hours later, then the airline is responsible to provide them with refreshments and meals.
Passengers will not be entitled for any kind of compensation when the flights are cancelled due to natural disasters, political instability, security risks, insurrection or riot, government regulation or orders affecting the airline and aircraft, strikes and labour disputes causing cessation, meteorological conditions, and cancellations and delays attributable to Air Traffic Control (ATC), among other reasons.