New Delhi: In a major relief to passengers, airlines may reduce the high ticket-cancellation charges.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has written to airlines asking them to give details about their cancellation charge policy and the amount by which this fee has been revised in recent past.
Currently, most of the airlines charge a hefty fee of Rs 3000 on cancellation of tickets.
"We had issued a civil aviation requirement (CAR or rules for airlines) last year which mandates cancellation charge cannot be more than the base fare plus fuel surcharge component of a ticket. The fuel surcharge was kept in this calculation as airlines frequently sell promotional tickets with low base fares of Rs 500 or so. We have sought data from airlines and will analyse if their current cancellation charge is in violation of this CAR," a senior DGCA official told TOI.
The move comes after Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha stated that the cancellation charges are on the high side and onerous for passengers. He feels the cancellation charges need to be brought back into balance.
Airlines have been steadily hiking charges for many other things, including carrying check-in baggage over 15kg on domestic flights.
According to a survey by the online platform LocalCircles, majority of consumers wanted this charge to be capped at 20 per cent of airfare.
"(We) asked citizens what airline ticket cancellation charges per segment should be if the cancellation is done two hours before departure. 26 per cent in response said it should be 30 per cent of the airfare, 47 per cent said it should be 20 per cent of the airfare, 23 per cent said the cancellation should be flat Rs 1,500 and only 4 per cent said it should be same as what it is now," LocalCircles said in a statement about the survey which it claims got more than 14,000 responses.
08/12/17 Times Now
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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has written to airlines asking them to give details about their cancellation charge policy and the amount by which this fee has been revised in recent past.
Currently, most of the airlines charge a hefty fee of Rs 3000 on cancellation of tickets.
"We had issued a civil aviation requirement (CAR or rules for airlines) last year which mandates cancellation charge cannot be more than the base fare plus fuel surcharge component of a ticket. The fuel surcharge was kept in this calculation as airlines frequently sell promotional tickets with low base fares of Rs 500 or so. We have sought data from airlines and will analyse if their current cancellation charge is in violation of this CAR," a senior DGCA official told TOI.
The move comes after Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha stated that the cancellation charges are on the high side and onerous for passengers. He feels the cancellation charges need to be brought back into balance.
Airlines have been steadily hiking charges for many other things, including carrying check-in baggage over 15kg on domestic flights.
According to a survey by the online platform LocalCircles, majority of consumers wanted this charge to be capped at 20 per cent of airfare.
"(We) asked citizens what airline ticket cancellation charges per segment should be if the cancellation is done two hours before departure. 26 per cent in response said it should be 30 per cent of the airfare, 47 per cent said it should be 20 per cent of the airfare, 23 per cent said the cancellation should be flat Rs 1,500 and only 4 per cent said it should be same as what it is now," LocalCircles said in a statement about the survey which it claims got more than 14,000 responses.
08/12/17 Times Now
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