Cancelled or Delayed Flights? Here’s An Easy Way to Claim Refunds

Do you know airlines are liable to pay compensation for not informing passengers about cancellations or overbooking?

Any frequent air traveller would have faced a cancelled or delayed flight at some point during their travels, and of course, the hassles of claiming compensation or a refund that follows. However, help’s on call as there are sites that can follow up on your behalf and do all the hard work for you.

Their cut? Twenty percent of the refunded amount or compensation. Here’s how it works. There are three scenarios where compensation or refunds can be claimed. Sites such as refundme.in and wtfares.com help with the process.

Denied Boarding

Did you know that airlines can deny you boarding because of overbooking – as is the case with many budget carriers – but can you claim compensation? Well, the denial of boarding has to come from the airline. For this, the passenger should have a confirmed ticket and should show up at the boarding gate.

Denial of boarding due to other reasons such as health, safety or inadequate travel documentation cannot be compensated.

Here is the compensation you can get as per DGCA rules:

1. If an alternate flight has been arranged by the airline, which is scheduled to depart within 24 hours of the original flight, you can claim an amount equal to 200 percent of the basic fare, and fuel surcharge up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per passenger.
2. If the alternate flight departs more than 24 hours after the original flight, you can claim 400 percent of the basic fare, plus fuel surcharge up to a maximum of Rs 20,000.
3. If the passenger does not take the alternate flight, a full refund of the ticket value, plus compensation equal to 400 percent of the booked fare and fuel surcharge up to a maximum of Rs 20,000 per passenger.

Cancelled Flights

Sometimes airlines are forced to cancel flights if they don’t get enough bookings on it. In such cases, you can claim compensation. However, you cannot claim compensation if the cancellation is due to bad weather, natural disasters, political climate or any situation beyond the airlines’ control.

If an airline informs a passenger about a cancelled flight more than two weeks before its departure, the passenger gets a full refund, or can settle for an alternate flight. If a passenger is informed of a cancellation within two weeks, but more than 24 hours before scheduled departure, an alternate flight has to be arranged within 2 hours of the original flight.

However, if an airline fails to inform passengers about the cancelled flights more than 24 hours earlier, here is the compensation you can claim:

1. Entire cost of the ticket will be refunded, along with Rs 5,000 or booked one-way fare as compensation, whichever is less – if the flight total duration (block time) is one hour.
2. Entire cost of the ticket and Rs 7,500, or booked one-way fare if the flight duration is under 2 hours.
3. The entire cost of the ticket and Rs 10,000, or booked one-way fare, whichever is less if the flight duration is more than 2 hours long.

Delayed Flights

The airline is not entitled to pay monetary compensation for flight delays if it is a direct flight. However, the airline has to has to provide meals to waiting passengers, and if the delay is significant, hotel accommodation is also to be provided.

However, if the passenger has a connecting flight and he or she misses that flight because of delays on the first flight, the airline operating the first flight is liable to pay compensation to the passenger in line with flight cancellation rules, provided the passenger arrives at their final destination more than three hours later than the scheduled arrival.

So how do you go about claiming compensation? Here’s where these sites like refundme.in and wtfares.com come into play. You just have to enter your flight details on the sites, and they will follow up with the airline to claim compensation on your behalf. For their efforts, they will take up to 20 percent of the amount received.

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