new delhi denying boarding to travellers with confirmed tickets who reach airport well in time for their flight could soon cost airlines dear the government plans to hike the current denied boarding compensation of about rs 2000 by making it directly proportional to the price at which the air ticket was bought the directorate general of civil aviation dgca has circulated a note on this issue to airlines and dgca chief arun mishra has called them for a meeting this week the regulator had three years ago framed rules for airlines to pay flyers up to rs 4000 for denied boarding which actually meant rs 2000 in a majority of such cases a rethink has happened due to two reasons first a consumer court recently termed the current compensation amount inadequate as airfares have shot up dramatically from 2009 when the compensation amounts were set and when lowcost flying was a reality in india second in an attempt to increase their ancillary revenues generated from things other than ticket sales cashstrapped airlines have hiked noshow and rescheduling charges in these circumstances a fine of rs 2000 can hardly be enough deterrent against wrongly denying boarding the plan is to link the compensation to say between 30 and 50 of the ticket price if airlines are right in safeguarding their interest the consumer also must be protected said a senior aviation official airlines routinely overbook 3 to 4 on a flight to factor in for lastminute no shows if a flyer reports after the airline closes the checkin facility for the flight he or she may be taken on subsequent flights subject to seat availability and a payment of rs 1500 for noshows airlines refund only airport charges and retain the basic fare and fuel surcharge whether cashstrapped airlines accept the move to link denied boarding compensation to ticket price remains to be seen compensation for deficiency in services and denied boarding was introduced in 2009 despite great opposition from the airlines the government has come to the aid of airports by allowing them to hike charges for airlines and introduce direct levies on passengers delhi for instance has seen a 346 rise in aero charges and new user development fees for both incoming and outbound passengers our basic demands like rationalization of fuel price remains unheard for years and airlines are struggling to survive no new burden should be put on us in this situation if the government cant give us any relief in operating cost said a senior airline official