Pay no Air India flight ticket cancellation charges from tomorrow, save money; Check important condition

It may have happened to you a number of times: You booked a flight ticket but after a few hours realised that you need to cancel it. But the airline doesn't allow this without charging some extra fee. Hence, you end up losing a lot of money. Come tomorrow (May 1), your flight ticket booking experience is set to change if you like to travel by Air India. The public sector airline has decided that from tomorrow if a customer wants to cancel his/her flight ticket or make some changes within 24 hours of booking, s/he will not be charged an extra fee. According to an Air India circular, this facility, however, will be available only if the flight is scheduled at least seven days after the booking date.

The new changes in flight ticket booking have been introduced weeks after the DGCA, which regulates aviation sector in India, issued a "passenger charter". The charter released in February specified the rights of air travellers. Air India is implementing one of the provisions in the passenger charter from May 1.

"You can cancel or amend the ticket without any additional charges, within 24 hours of booking the ticket. This facility is available up to 7 days prior to the specified flight departure on the first leg," says the charter. 

Air India circular

An Air India circular dated April 24 said, "It has been decided that for sale and travel, effective May 1, 2019, all domestic tickets will have the free look-in option for change and cancellation as prescribed by the DGCA...The passenger has an option of cancelling or amending the ticket without any additional charges, that is cancellation or change fee is not applicable when the same is done within 24 hours of ticketing."

The circular said that the normal prevailing fare and the related fare conditions on a particular flight - for which the customer is seeking ticket - will be applicable.

The new facility, however, will not be available for a flight "whose departure is scheduled less than seven days from the booking date".

"Beyond 24 hours of initial booking time, this option is not available and the passenger has to pay the relevant cancellation/change fees for amendment," the circular said.