Domestic and international flyers who have booked flight tickets on or before July 7th, 2017 and have already travelled can claim a refund of User Development Fee (UDF) from their respective airlines. Passengers need to apply for a refund within 45 days for domestic travel and 60 days for international travel. After the due date, the unclaimed amount will be transferred to Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL).
As per an order issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday, “passengers who booked the ticket on or before July 7, 2017, but are yet to commence travel, airlines shall refund the excess amount, if any, to passengers without waiting for such claim from the passengers.
Before July 7, the UDF for a passenger going abroad from IGIA was between INR 566 to INR 1,131 and for domestic outbound flyers it was between INR 245 to INR 490. Thanks to this order by the Supreme Court, the amount has been waived off to upto 96% making it INR 10 for domestic and INR 45 for international. Only those departing from Delhi airport have to pay the fee now.
Read through the following example for a better understanding of this order
If you have booked a Delhi-Chennai-Delhi ticket before 7th July, you would have paid UDF of INR 1,068 with 18% tax on departure and UDF of INR 490 + INR 415 on arrival as per old UDF rates. But now the current UDF on this ticket will be just INR 12 (with 18% tax on INR 10 and no arrival charge). So, you have paid INR 1,050 extra for which you must claim a refund for.
To help claim your refund, here are the customer care numbers of some of the prominent airlines —
IndiGo – 092127 83838
Air India – 1800 180 1407
Air Asia – 1860 500 8000
SpiceJet – 096540 03333
Jet Airways – 080 3924 3333
