If you are worried that you will miss your connecting flight, things may not be as bad as would have expected. Soon, you will get up to Rs 20,000 if you are not able to catch a connecting plane due to delays or cancellations in the first leg of your travel.
According to a report in The Times of India, the aviation ministry has come out with a charter under which it has proposed a compensation of up to Rs 20,000 (depending on the number of hours of delay) to passengers missing their onward journeys due to delays attributable to the carrier in the initial leg of the flight. A similar compensation will also be given to passengers missing the onward flight due to flight cancellations.
The charter has reportedly directed the airlines to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 for 'forced' boarding denials to passengers. When a flight gets overbooked, passengers are at times denied boarding.
The DGCA move has not been received well by the domestic carriers. The airlines have argued that domestic airfares in India are among the lowest globally and such compensation may lead to higher airfares as they will eventually pass on the increased cost to flyers.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the aviation ministry, TOI reported. The letter said that the charges are 'unfair' and a lot of times flight delays and cancellation are caused by factors that are beyond the carriers' control, such as bad weather, air traffic congestion and even unruly passengers.
According to the proposed rules, passengers will be provided free hotel accommodation for delays more than 6 hours if the departure time is after 00.00 hours. Airlines will offer full refund if the delay is over 6 hours.
For flight delays of up to 2 hours on tarmac, passengers will be offered free hot snacks and beverages.
For loss, damage and delay of baggage, DGCA rules propose to increase the liability for both domestic and international travel.