When an Indian carrier bumps you off an oversold flight, cancels at short notice, or leaves you sitting in the terminal for hours, you are not simply at the airline's mercy. India has its own legally enforceable passenger-protection rules, written and policed by the regulator. They are not the European rules people sometimes assume apply everywhere — they are India's own, and the amounts are set in rupees.
This guide explains who is covered, exactly what you can claim for denied boarding, cancellation and delay, and the step-by-step route to complain through AirSewa if the airline drags its feet.
What rules actually apply in India?
Passenger rights on Indian flights are governed by the DGCA — the Directorate General of Civil Aviation — through a Civil Aviation Requirement known as CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV. This is the official passenger charter. It sets out the airline's obligations when a flight is overbooked, cancelled or delayed, and it spells out the compensation due in each situation.
The rules apply to scheduled flights operated by Indian carriers, and to flights departing from airports in India. They cover the household airline names — IndiGo, Air India, Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Vistara — on both their domestic and outbound services.
Important distinction: India does not use the European Union's EC261 compensation scheme. If someone tells you that you are owed a fixed €250–€600 for a delayed flight, that figure is European and does not apply to a Mumbai–Delhi or Delhi–Bengaluru service. The Indian amounts are different and are set in rupees by the DGCA.
Denied Boarding (Overbooking)
Airlines are allowed to sell more seats than the aircraft holds, betting that some passengers will not turn up. When everyone does, somebody gets bumped. The DGCA rules treat involuntary denied boarding — being refused a seat despite a valid ticket and on-time check-in — as the most strongly compensated event of all.
The first thing the airline must do is ask for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for agreed benefits. If you volunteer, the deal is whatever you negotiate, and the compensation rules below do not apply. If you are bumped against your will, the protection kicks in.
| Airline's response | What you get |
|---|---|
| Alternate flight arranged within 1 hour of original departure | No compensation due — you travel close to schedule |
| Alternate flight within 24 hours of original departure | 200% of one-way fare + airline fuel charge, capped at ₹10,000 |
| Alternate flight beyond 24 hours of original departure | 400% of one-way fare + airline fuel charge, capped at ₹20,000 |
| You choose not to travel at all | Full refund of the ticket plus the compensation above |
The "one-way fare plus airline fuel charge" is the base for the percentage — taxes and statutory fees are excluded from the calculation. The cash compensation is on top of getting you to your destination or refunding you; it is not instead of it.
Tip: Get the denied-boarding compensation in your hand before you leave the airport where possible, and ask for it in writing. The airline must pay at the airport for involuntary denied boarding — do not accept only a meal voucher or a future-travel credit as a substitute for the cash amount you are owed.
Cancelled Flights
When an airline cancels a flight, two separate obligations arise: it must look after your journey (refund or re-route), and in some cases it must also pay compensation.
Your journey: refund or alternate
For any cancellation, the airline must offer you a choice between a full refund of the ticket, or an alternate flight to your destination at no extra cost. If you have already started a multi-leg journey when the cancellation happens, you can also ask to be flown back to your first point of departure with a refund.
Compensation for cancellation
Compensation becomes payable when the airline did not give you adequate notice. If you were informed at least two weeks before departure, or were informed within two weeks and offered an alternate that departs and arrives within a defined window of your original timing, no cash compensation is due — but the refund/alternate choice still stands.
| Scheduled flight block time | Compensation (capped at the one-way fare) |
|---|---|
| Block time up to 1 hour | ₹5,000 |
| Block time 1 to 2 hours | ₹7,500 |
| Block time more than 2 hours | ₹10,000 |
"Block time" is the scheduled gate-to-gate duration of the flight, not the distance. A short Delhi–Jaipur hop sits in the first band; a Delhi–Chennai or Mumbai–Kolkata service is usually in the top band. The compensation is capped so it never exceeds the one-way fare you actually paid.
Watch the booking confirmation channel: "Adequate notice" only counts if the airline reached you through the contact details on the booking. If you booked through an agent or a third-party site and never gave the airline a working phone or email, chase the airline directly the moment you hear of a cancellation — and keep a record of when you were actually told.
Delays: Right to Care
Direct answer. For long delays, the DGCA rules give you a right to care — free meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, and hotel accommodation plus airport transfers if the delay forces an overnight stay. This applies regardless of what caused the delay.
Cash compensation for a pure delay is not automatic in the way denied-boarding or cancellation compensation is. The trigger point is when a delay becomes so long that the flight is, in effect, a cancellation — at which stage the cancellation rules above (refund or alternate, plus the relevant compensation band) come into play. Until then, the airline's duty is to feed you, keep you informed, and put you up overnight if it comes to that.
- Meals and refreshments appropriate to the length of the wait
- Hotel accommodation when an overnight delay is unavoidable
- Transport between the airport and the hotel
- A genuine choice of a refund if a long delay makes the trip pointless for you
Key fact: Right to care during a delay does not depend on whose fault the delay is. Bad weather, a technical snag, or an air traffic restriction does not remove the airline's duty to provide meals and, where needed, a hotel. Keep every receipt if you have to pay for these yourself and claim them back.
When the Airline Does Not Have to Pay
The DGCA rules carve out situations beyond the airline's control. Cash compensation for cancellation and denied boarding is generally not owed where the disruption is caused by events the airline could not have prevented through reasonable measures, such as:
- Extreme weather — fog at Delhi in winter, heavy monsoon conditions, cyclonic disruption
- Air traffic control restrictions and airspace closures
- Security alerts and government orders grounding flights
- Political or civil disturbances affecting airport operations
- Natural events outside the airline's control
Even when one of these removes the cash-compensation obligation, the airline still owes you the refund-or-alternate choice and the right to care. "Extraordinary event" is not a licence to abandon stranded passengers.
Push back on vague excuses: "operational reasons" is not the same as an event beyond the airline's control. A crew-rostering failure or a routine maintenance overrun is the airline's own problem and does not switch off your compensation rights. Ask, in writing, for the specific cause.
How to Claim: Step by Step
Step 1 — Complain to the airline's nodal officer
Direct answer. Every Indian airline must publish a grievance-handling structure with a nodal officer and an appellate authority. Start with a written complaint to the airline citing the DGCA CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, your PNR, flight number, date, and the exact amount you are claiming.
Be specific. "I am claiming ₹10,000 under DGCA CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV for the cancellation of flight 6E-1234 from Delhi to Bengaluru on 14 June 2026, of which I was informed only two hours before departure" lands far better than a general complaint about a ruined trip. Quoting the rule signals you know the entitlement and reduces the chance of being fobbed off with a goodwill voucher worth a fraction of what you are owed.
Key fact: DGCA compensation is payable as money, not as a future-travel voucher. If the airline only offers a credit note, you can decline and insist on the cash amount without weakening your claim.
Step 2 — Escalate through AirSewa
Direct answer. If the airline does not resolve your complaint within its stated timeline, escalate free of charge through AirSewa, the Government of India's air-travel grievance platform (the AirSewa portal and mobile app). It routes your grievance to the airline and to the DGCA and tracks it to closure.
AirSewa is designed for exactly this — denied boarding, cancellations, delays, refund disputes, baggage problems and facilities complaints. You file the grievance, attach your documents (ticket, boarding pass or denied-boarding record, the airline's reply), and follow its status online. There is no fee, and the visibility to the regulator tends to speed up airlines that ignored the first letter.
Key fact: AirSewa is the official central route for air-travel grievances in India and feeds directly to the DGCA. Filing there creates a record the airline cannot quietly drop, which is its main advantage over emailing the airline alone.
Step 3 — The DGCA and consumer forums
Direct answer. The DGCA is the regulator and can take action against carriers for persistent non-compliance, though it does not generally adjudicate individual claims for money. For a contested money claim that the airline still refuses, a consumer complaint under India's consumer-protection framework is the route to a binding order.
In practice most valid DGCA claims are settled at Step 1 or Step 2 once the airline sees the rule cited and the grievance logged with the regulator. The consumer-forum route exists for the minority of cases where an airline digs in — it is slower but it can award compensation and costs.
Key fact: Keep every document from the moment disruption starts — boarding pass, denied-boarding slip, the airline's written reasons, receipts for meals or a hotel, and screenshots of any messages. A well-evidenced claim is settled far faster than a "he said, she said" dispute.
India–Europe Flights: the One EU Exception
There is a single, narrow situation where European rules and a European-style claims service can apply to your journey. If you are flying to or from the European Union on an EU-based airline — say a Delhi–Frankfurt or Bengaluru–Paris service operated by a European carrier — that flight can fall under the EU's EC261 regulation rather than the DGCA rules.
In that specific case the EU leg of the journey may fall under EC261 rather than the DGCA rules, and any claim is made against the operating airline under European rules — not through the DGCA or AirSewa. This is worth knowing for the EU leg of an international trip.
Do not mix the two systems up: EC261 does not apply to domestic Indian routes (Mumbai–Delhi, Delhi–Goa, Chennai–Kolkata and the like), and it generally does not apply to flights on Indian carriers. For those, your rights are the DGCA rules above and your route is AirSewa.
Summary
India's passenger-rights rules are real, enforceable and denominated in rupees — but most travellers never use them because they do not know the entitlement exists or assume European figures apply. If you were involuntarily bumped, cancelled on at short notice, or left stranded without care, start your claim immediately: cite the DGCA CAR, write to the airline's nodal officer, and escalate through AirSewa if needed. It costs nothing to pursue, and airlines bank on passengers not bothering.