Airlines may soon have to refund in full to passengers if shifted to lower class

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 23 announced that it will soon come up with guidelines, asking airlines to issue full refunds to passengers if downgraded to a lower class.

The aviation regulator has also proposed that airlines need to carry a passenger who was downgraded to the lower class in the next available class for free. “The amendment will allow the passenger, who is downgraded involuntarily from booked class of ticket, to receive the full value of ticket including taxes as refund from the airline and the airline will carry the passenger free of cost in the next available class,” DGCA chief Arun Kumar said.

These rules will apply to all airlines that operate to and from India. "The DGCA is in the process of amending its Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section-3, Series M Part IV... to protect the rights of air travellers affected by downgrading of their ticket," the regulator said in a statement.

The proposal is to go through stakeholder consultation before the final regulation is published. It is also open for public consultation for the next 30 days.

The proposal to make these changes comes at a time when airlines in India have been allegedly downgrading passengers with business class tickets to economy.

In June, the DGCA had asked Air India to not book more business class passengers than the number of serviceable seats available. The regulator had warned that any violation will invite enforcement action.

Air India's issues arose due to an old fleet with poorly maintained seats. The regulator had conducted a probe into the issue after receiving complaints from passengers.