Jet Airways offers to advance journey at a nominal Rs1,000 per ticket

A day after the civil aviation ministry proposed a cap on ticket cancellation charges and increased compensation for flight cancelation, denied boarding and delayed flights, Jet Airways has offered passengers a facility to advance flights by paying an extra Rs1,000 per ticket.

At present, domestic airlines charge heavy amounts for rescheduling or cancelling flight tickets. In addition, a flier has to pay the difference in the ticket prices in case of a re-booking.

Now, under "JetAdvance" facility, passengers will have the flexibility to change bookings to an earlier flight for a nominal fee, Jet Airways said in a statement.

According to the airline, this option will be available for the flights having a departure time difference of a maximum of four hours.

"Guests are required to be physically present at the airport for managing the booking. The request for time change will be confirmed at the check-in counter, subject to availability of seats and for a fee of Rs1,000 per guest per flight," it said.

The facility will be available for flights across the domestic network of Jet Airways and offers guests the opportunity to travel on an earlier flight.

The government has proposed a cap on exorbitant air ticket cancellation fee, a five-fold hike in compensation to Rs20,000 for denied boarding and steep reduction in excess baggage fee. The new proposals follow complaints by passengers that issues concerning them were not resolved within a reasonable time.

Between January and March, 10 Indian carriers accounted for a total of 18,512 delayed flights, according to the official data.

As per the data, no-frill carrier IndiGo alone had 5,426 delayed flights, followed by full service carrier Jet Airways with 5,040 flights. National carrier Air India had 3,111 delayed flights, while low-cost domestic carrier Spicejet had 2,205 delayed flights.