Air Ticket Refund Rules Changed, No Cancellation Charges Within 48 Hours of Booking

Flight Ticket Refund: Big news for Air Travellers. The government has provided significant relief to air travelers. Now, if you wish to cancel or change your ticket within 48 hours of booking, in most cases, you will not incur any additional charges. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has amended refund rules to make them more passenger-friendly.

What is the 48-hour ‘look-in’ option?

Under the revised Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), airlines are now required to offer a 48-hour “look-in option.” This means that you can cancel or revise your ticket within 48 hours of booking without penalty. However, if you choose a new flight and the fare is higher, you will have to pay the difference.

This rule won’t apply in every situation. If you booked your ticket directly through the airline’s website and the flight date is within seven days (for domestic flights) or 15 days (for international flights) of the booking date, this 48-hour option won’t apply. After the 48-hour period expires, normal cancellation or change fees will apply.

No extra charges for name correction

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has provided passengers with another significant relief: If a ticket is purchased directly from the airline’s website and the name error is reported within 24 hours of booking, the airline will not charge any additional fee for the name correction.

The regulator clarified that even if the ticket was booked through a travel agent or online portal, the airline will still be responsible for the refund. Agents are considered representatives of the airline, so the airline must process the refund. Airlines must process refunds within 14 working days.

What will happen in a medical emergency?

The new rules also cover medical emergencies. If the passenger or a family member listed on the same PNR is hospitalized during the travel period, the airline may offer the option of a refund or credit shell. In other cases, the refund decision will be based on the opinion of an aerospace medicine expert empanelled by the airline or the DGCA, who will assess the passenger’s fitness to travel.

Decision taken after complaints

Complaints about delayed refunds had been increasing. The issue became more serious after the December 2025 flight disruptions involving IndiGo. Following this, the Ministry of Civil Aviation directed the airline to expedite the processing of pending refunds. According to DGCA data, scheduled airlines received 29,212 passenger complaints in December 2025. Of these, 7.5 percent were related to refunds. In the same month, domestic airlines carried more than 14.3 million passengers.

Indian airlines carried over 166.9 million passengers throughout 2025. This data indicates that India’s aviation sector is growing rapidly, and with such a large scale of operations, protecting passenger interests becomes even more important.