Most of us travel from air frequently. There are many rules from which we are unknown. Recently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of India released a draft Passenger Charter defining rights for the air travelers and the new rules of flying. As per the Financial Express Report, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu told
“A minimum benchmark has been set. We want passengers to have a world-class flying experience. This would be beneficial for the airlines too in the long-run,”
This includes everything like the cancellation, loss of baggage and flight delay. Check out the new rules of flying, which all flyers and air travelers must know.
1. Flight Delays
These are the things you are entitled if your flight gets delayed. If the flight gets delayed by two to six hours and you are waiting at the airport, then the airlines will have to offer you free meals and refreshments. In case the flight gets delayed for more than six hours, then the airline has to offer you an option to fly from an alternate flight within six hours or a full refund on your ticket. The airlines will have to provide you free accommodation if the flight scheduled between 8 pm – 3 am is delayed for more than six hours. The airlines will also have to inform you about the delay in a day in advance.
2. Flight Cancellation
The airlines have to inform you about the canceled flight anywhere between 15 days to 24 hours before the scheduled departure. They also have to provide you with an alternate flight or a refund on the ticket. If the airlines don’t inform within this time frame, then they have to provide you with an alternate flight acceptable to you or a full refund plus compensation.
3. Refund Policy
How many times because of some urgency you have to cancel your ticket and don’t get any refund? Now, gone are the days when you had to give cancellation amount for canceling your ticket. You can get a full refund if it is done within a day of the booking. If the tickets are booked less than seven days before the departure time of the flight, zero cancellation charge won’t apply. The airlines can charge cancellation fee limited to the total of the base fare and fuel surcharges if there are less than 7 days between the date of booking and departure. Other additional charges like passenger service, tax, user development fee, and airport development fee have to be refunded.
4. Loss Or Damage Of Baggage
If there is a loss, delay or damage to your baggage, the traveler will get a compensation of INR 350 per kg or up to INR 20,000. This is 75% more than the previous compensation.
5. Death And Injury On Flight
If a passenger suffers physical injury because of the airline’s fault or if a passenger dies on-board, the airline will be liable to pay INR 20 lakh as compensation. If the injury or death onboard is due to natural causes, the airline is not liable to pay compensation.
6. Change Of Name
This rule will surely help flyers. Most of the time due to a typing error, we were unable to correct a name. Because previously correction in the name was considered as cancellation so the passengers had to book a new ticket and pay additional charges. But now the new rules allow air travelers to make corrections to their names within 24 hours of booking. Yes, it is absolutely free of cost.
I am wondering, if this rule was made earlier, my friend would have saved his hard-earned money.
These are the new rules which every flyer should know. Because being a well-informed flyer will make the best use of your rights while flying. Check out the airlines with the best-looking crew all over the globe.
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