Soon, you won’t be charged more than base fare while cancelling an airline ticket

In a big relief to flyers, who have to bear high cancellation charges, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is likely to come up with a new rule in which airline ticket cancellation charges won’t exceed base fares.

The DGCA has said that the customer can only be charged for base fare and charges for everything else such as service tax, passenger fee, etc have to be refunded by the airlines.

"There have been instances, where the cancellation fee exceeds the total fare charged and the passenger does not get anything when the ticket is cancelled. Airfares that passengers pay have components like service tax and other airport charges in them and not returning these charges to the passenger upon cancellation could also raise legal issues," a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified, told ET.
The new rule will also cover travel agencies and sites that also get a part of cancellation fee.

"If you ask me, cancellation charges should not be more than 10% of the base fare of any ticket," Subhash Goyal, chairman of STIC Travel Group of Companies, told ET.