Introduction
- The issue of refund of tickets by airlines has become a major source of grievance amongst airline passengers. A large number of complaints are regularly received which can broadly be divided into the following categories :
- Delay in refund of unused tickets.
- The amount which is refunded by the airlines against cancelled tickets.
- Policy of no refund of the ticket amount but to adjust against tickets to be purchased by the passenger for future travel in the same airline that too valid for a limited period of time.
- While the Government is committed to no interference in the commercial practices of the airlines, the volume of the complaints necessitates some affirmative action to safeguard the interest of the travelling public. The matter has been discussed in several meetings with the airlines with no significant improvement in the system adopted by airlines for refund of tickets. It is, therefore, now considered necessary by Government to fix some minimum bench marks, as far as the refund policy is concerned in order to stem the growing dissatisfaction among the passengers regarding the refund procedures adopted by some airlines.
- This CAR prescribes minimum requirements for refund of ticket purchased by persons/passengers with respect to air transport undertakings including scheduled domestic/non-scheduled operators/foreign carriers operating to/from India.
This CAR is issued in public interest as per Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules and Ministry of Civil Aviation Order No. AV 13030/105/2007-DT dated 12 May, 2008.