Airlines lean heavily on vouchers because most passengers accept them. You are generally entitled to insist on money.
The framework
Passenger rights are governed by the DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirements, principally the CAR on refunds and the CAR on denied boarding, cancellation and delays, read with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
A word of caution about figures. The CARs fix the compensation scale, the notice periods and the refund timelines in specific numbers, and those are revised from time to time. Every amount quoted in an article, this one included, should be checked against the version of the CAR in force on the date of your flight, which the DGCA publishes. What does not change is the structure, and the structure is what decides most disputes: a cancellation gives you a choice between a refund and an alternate flight, the choice is yours rather than the airline's, and compensation is a separate entitlement that sits on top of the refund rather than in place of it. Our guide to airline passenger rights for delays, cancellations and denied boarding sets out the bands and what to claim under each.
Cancellation
- If the airline cancels, you are entitled to a full refund or an alternate flight, at your option. A voucher is only an option if you choose it.
- Where cancellation is not notified sufficiently in advance and no alternate flight is arranged within the prescribed window, compensation is payable in addition to the refund.
- Refunds must be processed within the timelines in the CAR, and the airline may not withhold statutory taxes and user development fees on an unflown ticket.
Denied boarding due to overbooking
If you have a confirmed booking and reported on time but are denied boarding, the airline must first seek volunteers. If it still denies you boarding, compensation is payable on the scale in the CAR, which varies with how quickly an alternate flight is arranged.
Delays
Meals and refreshments for defined delay bands, hotel accommodation with transfers where the delay extends overnight, and a right to a full refund where the delay exceeds the prescribed period.
Airlines are not liable to pay compensation where the cancellation or delay is due to extraordinary circumstances beyond their control, such as weather, political instability, security risks or air traffic restrictions. Note the distinction: even then, the right to a refund of an unflown ticket survives. Extraordinary circumstances excuse compensation, not the refund.
- The booking confirmation and ticket number
- The airline's cancellation or delay message, with its timestamp
- Boarding pass, or the denied-boarding endorsement
- Receipts for meals, transport or accommodation you had to fund
- The written refund request, and the airline's reply
- The complaint lodged on the AirSewa portal, with its reference
- Evidence of any consequential loss, if you intend to claim it
The voucher question, squarely
Airlines present the voucher as the offer on the table and the refund as an exception to be argued for. Reverse that. Reply in writing that you require a refund to the original mode of payment, and say it before you click anything, because accepting a voucher through an app is treated as an election. If the booking was through a travel agent or an online travel platform, the airline will say the refund went to the agent and the agent will say it never arrived. Write to both on the same email, ask each to confirm the date and reference of the transfer, and keep them in one thread. That habit resolves a large share of these disputes on its own.
Baggage
Compensation for lost, damaged or delayed baggage is governed by the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 and the Montreal Convention limits for international carriage. Report at the airport and obtain a Property Irregularity Report before leaving; without it, claims become very difficult.
The Convention limits are expressed in Special Drawing Rights and are revised periodically, so the rupee ceiling on an international baggage claim is not a fixed number and should be worked out for the date of carriage. Photograph the damage before you leave the airport, keep the baggage tag and the Property Irregularity Report, and list the contents with purchase evidence, because an unparticularised claim invites an arbitrary offer.
How to escalate
Complain in writing to the airline's nodal officer, then on the AirSewa portal, and if unresolved, file before the District Commission where you reside. Keep the ticket, boarding pass, cancellation message, and every communication.
Every Indian carrier publishes both a nodal officer and an appellate authority for grievances, and the appellate stage is routinely skipped. Use it: it forces a more senior look at the file and shows you exhausted the airline's own machinery before approaching a commission.
Build the record from day one: the ticket and fare breakdown showing taxes and user development fees separately, the cancellation or delay message with its timestamp, the boarding pass or denied boarding endorsement, the correspondence, and the receipts for what the disruption actually cost in hotel, transport and rebooking. Compensation under the CAR and damages for consequential loss are different things, and the second is only recoverable if you prove it.
Where the complaint goes
The value of the consideration is the fare you paid, so this is almost always a District Commission matter, and you may file where you reside or work for gain rather than where the airline is registered. That is what makes a Bengaluru passenger's claim against a carrier headquartered elsewhere worth pursuing at all. For a larger family itinerary check the tier in our guide on which consumer commission has jurisdiction, and take the drafting sequence from our note on how to file a consumer complaint. Limitation is two years from the cause of action you rely on.