The airline has to facilitate affected passengers due to cancellation & delay in flight under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section 3, Series M, Part IV titled as “Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”.
Under the provisions of said CAR, the airline has to provide the following:
- I. In case of cancellation, the airlines shall either provide an alternate flight or provide compensation in addition to the full refund of the air ticket. Additionally, the airline shall provide meals and refreshments to the passengers who have already reported for their original flight at the airport while waiting for the alternate flight.
- II. In case of a flight delay, the airline is required to provide meals and refreshments, an alternate flight/full refund of the ticket to the passenger, or hotel accommodation (including transfers) depending on the total flight delay.
The airline shall not be obliged to compensate in cases where the cancellation & delay are caused by a force majeure event i.e. extraordinary circumstance(s) beyond the control of the airline.
Facilities to be offered to the affected passengers in case of flight disruption are already available in the public domain in the form of a Passenger Charter published on Ministry’s website, CARS on the DGCA website & the respective airline websites.
Adequate provisions to safeguard the interests of passengers are already in place.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.