Flight cancelled in India: what the DGCA rules say

When an airline in India cancels your flight, the DGCA rules decide what it owes you. The answer turns on one question more than any other: when were you told?

Told at least a day before

If the airline told you 24 hours or more before the flight, the rules give you a choice: another flight, or your money back in full. The rules do not add compensation on top in this case.

Told less than a day before, or at the airport

There are two ways this can go.

• The airline offers you another flight and you take it. That flight is what the rules give you instead of compensation.
• You do not take another flight. The rules then give you a full refund and compensation as well.

If you were told at the airport, the airline should also give you food and drink while you wait.

How much compensation

It depends on how long the flight is scheduled to take (its block time):

Each amount is capped at your basic fare plus the fuel charge. If that is lower, the lower figure is the most you can be owed. These are limits, not a promise: nothing is owed until the airline agrees to pay.

When the rules give less

• The airline did not have your phone number or email. If it could not reach you, the rules give a refund or another flight, but no compensation.
• The airline blames something outside its control, such as bad weather. The rules may then not require compensation. That reason is the airline's claim, not a proven fact. Flight records show what happened to a flight, never why, so a person should look at it.
• You booked through a travel agent or app. The refund goes back through them, because they hold your money.

What to keep

• Your ticket or booking confirmation.
• The message telling you about the cancellation. It shows exactly when you were told, which decides the answer.
• Anything about a refund you asked for or were offered.

Then write to the airline. If it does not put things right, there is a ladder of people to take it to next: see how to escalate an airline complaint.

Where this comes from

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.