New Delhi: Made error in name while booking air ticket? Revised DGCA rules may save you money
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has modified norms allowing passengers to cancel or change air tickets without paying additional charge within 48 hours of making the bookings, under certain conditions.
The revision are part of the amendments to the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for ‘Refund of Airline Tickets to Passengers of Public Transport Undertakings’ – issued on February 24.
-Airlines should not levy any additional charge for correction in the name of the same person when the error is pointed out by the passenger within 24 hours of making the booking, when the ticket is booked directly through the airline’s website.
-“In case of purchase of ticket through travel agent/portal, onus of refund shall lie with the airlines as agents are their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure that the refund process is completed within 14 working days,” the DGCA said.
-Airlines are advised to provide ‘Look-in option’ for a period of 48 hours to passengers after booking tickets. “During this period a passenger can cancel or amend the ticket without any additional charges, except for the normal prevailing fare for the revised flight for which the ticket is sought to be amended.”
-The above facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than seven days for domestic flight and 15 days for international flight from booking date when ticket is booked directly through airline website. Beyond 48 hours of initial booking time, this option would not be available and the passenger would have to pay the relevant cancellation fees for amendment.
-In the event of ticket cancellations due to a medical emergency, where the passenger or a family member listed on the same PNR gets admitted/hospitalised during the travel period, airlines may provide either a refund or a credit shell.
-“For all other situations, refunds will be issued once an opinion on the passenger’s fitness to travel certificate is received from an airline’s Aerospace Medicine specialist/ DGCA empanelled Aerospace Medicine specialist”.
The revisions to norms comes against the backdrop of the rising passenger complaints about not receiving refunds on time, particularly after the large-scale IndiGo flight disruptions in December 2025.
During the IndiGo disruptions, the civil aviation ministry had directed the airline to complete the refunds within a specified timeline.
In December 2025, scheduled airlines received a total of 29,212 passenger-related complaints and 7.5 per cent of them were related to refunds. During that month, domestic carriers carried over 1.43 crore passengers, as per DGCA data cited in a PTI news agency report.
Source: Read full coverage
