Not carrying any luggage with you on your next domestic flight? You may be entitled to receive discounts on your ticket fare! As per the notice released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, domestic flight carriers are permitted to charge tickets at a less price for passengers who are traveling with either no baggage or only cabin luggage.
The prevailing rules allow passengers to carry up to 7 kg as cabin baggage and 15 kg as check-in baggage. Other than this, any additional weight will be charged.
According to the new rule, now, the flight operators can provide concessions to people carrying no or just cabin baggage, given it is within the permissible limits.
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In order to receive these discounts and avail the ticket at a lower price, the passenger has to intimate at the time of booking the ticket itself regarding the weight of luggage he is taking with himself. However, if found carrying baggage above the allowed limit, opposed to the declaration he had made while making the booking, he will be charged a fair price for it that will be printed on the ticket too.
“As part of airline baggage policy, scheduled airlines will be allowed to offer free baggage allowance as well as “zero baggage/no check-in baggage fares”. This will be subject to the condition that the passenger booking ticket under such fare scheme is made aware of the charges that shall be applicable if the passenger turns up with the baggage for check-in at the airline counter. These applicable charges shall be reasonable; prominently displayed to the passenger at the time of booking of a ticket and also to be printed on the ticket,” the DGCA said in its circular.
Another change in the aviation operations for benefitting passengers is the unbundling of additional services that often get added with the basic ticket price but go unused. Facilities like meal-snack-drink charges, sports equipment charges, preferred seating, musical instrument charge, airline lounges and others will be available as options now, reducing the overall cost of a regular flight ticket.
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“On the basis of various feedback received, it is felt that many times these services provided by the airlines may not be required by the passengers while traveling. Considering the fact that unbundling of services and charges thereto has the potential to make basic fare more affordable and provide the consumer with an option of paying for the services which he/she wishes to avail, it has been decided by the government to allow these services to be unbundled and charged separately on an opt-in basis,” it further said.
The airlines will decide on the prices to be set for availing these unbundles services.
