While planning air travel, passengers often have to pay huge cancellation charges due to discrepancy in dates, sudden change of plans or mistake in name at the time of booking. Many times, the cancellation fee even exceeds the base fare of the ticket, due to which passengers get a nominal refund. However, the country's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), giving a big relief to air passengers, has made 48-hour 'Look-in Option' mandatory. Under this rule, passengers can get their tickets canceled or amended without paying any additional penalty, provided they fulfill one of the basic conditions. What is DGCA's 48-hour 'look-in option'? As per the revised Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) of DGCA, it is mandatory for all airlines to provide a 'cooling-off window' (look-in period) of 48 hours to the passengers after ticket booking. Zero Cancellation Charge: If a passenger cancels his ticket within 48 hours of booking the ticket, the airline cannot deduct any cancellation fee or processing charge from him. Free Ticket Amendments: If you wish to change the date of travel or flight, there will be no 'Change Fee' if the change is made within 48 hours (except if the fare of the new flight is higher, then the fare difference will have to be paid). Free Name Correction within 24 hours: If there is a human error in name spelling while booking a ticket directly from the airline's website, the airline cannot levy any additional charges for making name correction for the same person within 24 hours of booking. Know which is the '1 most important condition'? To avail this 48 hours free cancellation and change right, DGCA has set a very important time frame condition: For domestic flights: There should be a minimum gap of 7 days between the date of ticket booking and the departure of the flight. For International Flights: There must be a minimum gap of 15 days between the date of booking and the date of travel. Let us understand by example: If you have booked a ticket on 25th August and your domestic flight is on 2nd September (more than 7 days), then you can cancel the ticket till 27th August with 100% refund without any penalty. But if you have booked a Tatkal ticket for next day or 3 days later on 25th August itself, then this 48 hours free option will not be applicable and normal cancellation charges will be deducted. The compulsion of credit shell ends, the entire amount will be received in the account. Earlier, instead of sending the refund amount directly to the passenger's bank account, airlines used to forcibly put it in 'Credit Shell' or wallet, which could be used only in the next booking of the same airline. As per the clear rules of DGCA, keeping money in the credit shell will be a completely voluntary decision of the passenger and not a compulsion on the airline. If the passenger asks for a refund to his bank account or credit card, the airline must refund the actual amount within the stipulated time frame (7 days in case of credit card and maximum 14 to 21 working days in case of travel agent/portal). By being aware of this right while booking air travel in advance, you can easily avoid unwanted financial loss.
