Air travel is now the cornerstone of everyday life, but passengers feel the system is unfair. Airlines are particular about baggage standards and they charge heavily for one extra kg. They keep track of baggage weights to the gram. Still, while flights are delayed for hours, passengers still rarely receive compensation for it. So it was recently pointed out in Parliament when Raghav Chadha asked the Civil Aviation Minister if India had an initiative in place for compensation to settle for passengers affected by significant flight delays.
Passengers know that extra time spent paying for bags will do you a lot of justice. Even a little excess weight can be a big cost for airlines (we know airlines keep explaining this as fuel costs and safety are related to cargo in weight). But passengers have lost time traveling if they stay at an airport all day. Meetings are missed, family plans are disrupted, and personal schedules collapse. Time is not measured or valued by airlines in the same way that baggage is.
In March 2026, Raghav Chadha spoke in Parliament as he challenged Civil Aviation Minister (Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu) with a query whether a system of compensation should be established for people after delays exist. He simply put it: If airlines can charge by the gram, they should also do as much as they can by the hour. That statement hit the spot for travelers who feel helpless when a flight gets delayed too long.
Other countries have systems in place too. If flights are delayed more than given limits in the European Union, passengers receive compensation and the compensation is in the order of €250 to €600. Compensation can vary from €250 to €600 depending upon distance and amount of time, and prices go up when flights are canceled and flights are drastically altered. And Indian airlines must refund tickets if flights are canceled or significantly altered in the United States. A compensation system is still not working in India.
There don’t simply have to be problems with flight delays: They represent lost opportunities and wasted time. Compensation would be a way to hold airlines more accountable and make better service a priority. That will also give passengers a sense of fairness. Compensation rules would protect passengers just as baggage rules protect airlines.
Raghav Chadha merits his position on the issue that will have an immense impact on Indian aviation in the future. Airlines cannot just value grams and ignore hours. If they may charge passengers for baggage weight, they will also have to pay for the time taken away because of delays. A fair system would better balance the rights of passengers with the responsibilities of airlines in order to make airline travel more just and humane.
