Escalate an airline complaint in India
Checked against the DGCA rules on .
What happened to your flight?
Tap one. Two more taps and you see what the rules may allow, with the rule and the source. Free, no account needed.
If an airline in India does not fix your problem, you do not have to stop at customer support. There is a ladder, and each step is a person or office with more authority than the one before.
1. Airline customer support
Write to the airline first, by email or its complaint form. Say what happened, what the rules give you, and what you are asking for. Attach your ticket and any messages from the airline. Keep the reference number they give you: every later step asks for it.
2. The Nodal Officer
Indian airlines publish a Nodal Officer for complaints on their websites. Write to them if customer support refused, gave a partial answer you do not accept, or did not reply. Quote your first reference and what the airline said.
3. The Appellate Authority
Above the Nodal Officer is the airline's Appellate Authority, also published on its website. This is the last step inside the airline. Quote both earlier references.
4. AirSewa
AirSewa is the Government of India's grievance portal for air travel. You file on it yourself: you sign in and complete its security check. It helps to have everything ready first: the complaint, what each step of the airline said, and your documents.
How long to wait at each step
We suggest giving each step 15 days to answer before going to the next. That is our own rule of thumb to keep things moving, not a deadline set by law. If the airline asks for something, send it; if it agrees to pay, give the money time to arrive before going further.
How Nivaanzo helps
We check what the rules say about your flight, write each step's complaint from your case with the rule and its source, and keep track of the dates. You read and approve every word, and you send it from your own email. For AirSewa we put the pack together; you file it.
Find out for your flight
The free check asks what happened, looks up your flight in independent flight records, and shows what the rules say, with the rule and the source. No account needed.
Where this comes from
CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV — facilities to passengers affected by denied boarding, cancellation and delay
Civil Aviation Requirements, Section 3 — Air Transport, Series M, Part IV, Rev. 4 (25 January 2023, effective 15 February 2023)
The figures here are the ones our rules engine uses (rule set 2026.10.2). They are the most the rules allow, not a promise: nothing is owed until an airline agrees to pay it.
Nivaanzo is run by SpecShield Software Private Limited. We are not a law firm and not connected to any airline. Airline names are used only to say which airline a rule applies to.