If your flight is diverted to another city in India, the DGCA does not give you a fixed cash payout just for the diversion. What you are owed is care (refreshments, and a hotel if you are held overnight), onward travel to your original destination at the airline’s cost, and a full refund only if you are not re-accommodated within a reasonable window. Cash compensation kicks in only if the diversion turns into an airline-controlled cancellation or long delay.
Updated June 2026 · HappyFares
Your flight to Delhi lands in Jaipur instead. Or your Goa service ends up in Ahmedabad. It happens more than most flyers realise, especially during the DGCA’s official fog season, which runs from 10 December to 10 February each year. The dense Delhi fog in the 2025-26 winter forced mass disruption, including 66 cancellations on 2 January 2026 alone.
A diversion feels like a cancellation, but legally it is treated differently in India. Knowing the difference is what gets you fed, re-routed, and refunded, rather than stranded and confused. Here is exactly what the airline owes you, and the one big myth worth busting first.
What is a flight diversion, and is it the same as a cancellation?
A diversion means your aircraft lands at an airport other than the one on your ticket, usually because the original destination is unsafe or unavailable. It is not the same as a cancellation. The governing rule is DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements, Section 3, Series M, Part IV (Rev. 4, dated 25 January 2023), which sets out airline duties for denied boarding, cancellation and delay, but names no separate diversion payout.
Diversions are triggered by weather (fog, thunderstorms), air-traffic congestion, a medical emergency on board, a technical snag, or security. Most are safety calls made mid-air by the captain. The key point: a diversion on its own is not a compensation event. What it does trigger is the airline’s duty of care, plus a duty to get you to your booked destination. Whether any cash follows depends entirely on the cause and on what happens next.
Does the DGCA pay fixed cash compensation for a diversion?
No. The DGCA does not mandate any fixed cash sum specifically for a diversion. The official Ministry of Civil Aviation Passenger Charter does not set out direct cash amounts for diversion situations, and the CAR’s fixed rupee figures attach only to denied boarding and cancellation, not to a plane landing in the wrong city.
This trips people up because they have seen the cancellation numbers. For context only, here is what those separate rules actually cover, so you can see why they do not apply to a pure diversion.
| Situation (NOT diversion) | DGCA compensation |
|---|---|
| Denied boarding, alternate within 24h | Up to Rs 10,000 (200% of basic fare + fuel surcharge) |
| Denied boarding, alternate beyond 24h | Up to Rs 20,000 (400% of basic fare + fuel surcharge) |
| Cancellation, block time up to 1h | Rs 5,000 or basic fare + fuel, whichever is less, plus full refund |
| Cancellation, block time 1-2h | Rs 7,500 or basic fare + fuel, whichever is less, plus full refund |
| Cancellation, block time over 2h | Rs 10,000 or basic fare + fuel, whichever is less, plus full refund |
Use that table to understand what a diversion is not. The only way these figures come into play is if your diversion is re-classified, for example a technical snag that strands you so your flight effectively becomes a cancellation. Even then, it is the cancellation rule paying out, not a “diversion payout”. Our companion guides on flight delay and cancellation compensation and denied boarding and overbooking rights break those scenarios down in full.
So what does the airline actually owe you on a diversion?
Three things: information, care, and onward travel. Under the MoCA Passenger Charter, once a flight is diverted the airline must keep you informed, look after you while you wait, and then get you to your originally booked airport. These are care obligations that apply regardless of the cause, even when no cash compensation is due.
How the care scales depends mostly on how long you are held at the diversion airport.
Refreshments and disembarkation
If your waiting time at the diversion airport exceeds two hours, the airline should arrange for passengers to disembark at the nearest airport and provide refreshments. If the wait is under two hours, you typically stay on board with an announcement and basic refreshments such as water, tea and coffee. Note that actually getting off the aircraft depends on the diversion airport being authorised and equipped to process passengers, and on local-authority approval, so the two-hour mark is a care threshold, not a guaranteed right to step off.
Onward travel to your real destination
This is the part many travellers forget. Because your ticket was to the original destination, the airline must provide onward travel, either a connecting flight or surface transport, and it must bear the cost of getting you from the alternate airport to your booked airport. The airline cannot simply leave you in the diversion city and call the job done.
There is one genuinely Indian exception worth memorising. If you were informed of the change at least six hours in advance, the airline does not have to arrange or pay for that transfer, and you make your own way to the new airport or terminal. In a true mid-air diversion, that six-hour notice almost never exists, so the cost usually stays with the airline.
Hotel and refund if you are stranded
If you end up stranded, the same delay rules that apply when any flight leaves you stuck come into play. You are owed a full refund of the ticket if no alternate flight is offered within six hours and you choose not to travel onward. A hotel plus transfers is owed when the total delay exceeds 24 hours, or exceeds six hours for flights scheduled to depart between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. These thresholds flow from the delay and cancellation provisions, so they depend on how long you are held and whether you accept the airline’s re-accommodation, rather than being automatic the moment a plane diverts.
What if the diversion was caused by fog or bad weather?
Weather diversions fall under “force majeure”, and here is the nuance: force majeure removes the airline’s duty to pay cash compensation, but it does not remove the duty of care. The DGCA’s extraordinary-circumstances definition covers political instability, natural disaster, civil war, insurrection or riot, flood, explosion, government regulation, strikes and labour disputes, plus other factors beyond the airline’s control. Weather, ATC congestion and security sit squarely in this bucket.
So a fog diversion does not mean “you get nothing”. You still get information, meals and refreshments, onward travel to your destination, and an overnight hotel with transfers if you are held long enough. What you do not get is a cash cheque, because the airline could not have avoided the fog. A real example: an Air India Express flight from Goa to Delhi was diverted to Ahmedabad on 29 December 2025 during fog disruption. That is a force-majeure diversion, so care was owed, but no fixed cash payout.
Contrast that with a diversion the airline could control. On 19 April 2026, a Fly91 service from Hyderabad to Hubballi was diverted to Bengaluru after a technical snag, well outside the fog season. A technical problem is within the airline’s control, so if such a diversion strands passengers and becomes a cancellation or long delay, the cancellation compensation schedule can apply. Cause is everything.
What about diversions on international flights to or from India?
On international itineraries touching India, the DGCA care obligations still apply, and on top of them sits the Montreal Convention 1999, brought into Indian law through the Carriage by Air Act. The Convention governs an airline’s liability for damage genuinely caused by delay, which can include a badly disrupted diversion. Treat this as a backstop, not a windfall.
The Montreal route is a liability regime for proven consequential loss, subject to monetary (SDR) limits, and the carrier can escape liability entirely by proving it took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage. It is not an automatic sum, and it is emphatically not Europe’s EU261, which only attaches to flights leaving the EU or arriving in the EU on an EU carrier. A purely domestic Indian diversion is governed by the DGCA alone. For costs like a missed hotel night or a lost business meeting, which the DGCA does not cover, the practical answer is usually travel insurance rather than a claim against the airline.
How do you claim, and how fast are refunds paid?
Start the grievance with the airline itself: contact its published Nodal Officer first, then escalate to its Appellate Authority if you are not satisfied, and only then take it to AirSewa, the Ministry of Civil Aviation portal. Every scheduled airline must publish these officers under the DGCA CAR, and the airline is expected to respond within roughly 30 days. AirSewa generally requires you to have complained to the airline first.
If a refund is due, the timelines under the current refund CAR (notified 24 February 2026, effective 26 March 2026) are clear.
| Payment method | Refund timeline |
|---|---|
| Cash | Immediate |
| Credit / debit card, UPI, net banking | Within 7 working days |
| Travel agent / OTA booking | Within 14 working days |
One catch worth flagging: “working days” exclude Sundays and public holidays, so a 7-working-day refund can stretch to roughly 10 to 11 calendar days in practice. Keep your boarding pass, any communication from the airline, and receipts for anything you had to pay yourself, since these support both your refund and any insurance claim.
Quick myth-check: what India does NOT give you
Two foreign rules get wrongly imported into Indian diversions, so it is worth stating plainly what does not exist here. India has no US-style three-hour tarmac-delay rule forcing the airline to deplane you within a set time on a domestic flight; the DGCA regulates through care and compensation, not a hard deplaning clock. And EU261’s fixed payouts of EUR 250-600 do not apply to a domestic Indian diversion.
| Common belief | Reality in India |
|---|---|
| “A diversion means automatic cash compensation.” | No. There is no diversion-specific cash payout under the DGCA. |
| “I must be let off the plane after 3 hours.” | No tarmac-delay clock in India; that is a US DOT rule. |
| “I can claim EUR 250-600 like in Europe.” | EU261 does not apply to domestic Indian flights. |
| “Fog diversion means I get nothing.” | You still get care, onward travel and a possible hotel; just no cash. |
| “The airline can leave me in the diversion city.” | No. It must get you to your booked destination at its cost (unless 6h+ prior notice). |
Common Questions
Does a flight diversion entitle me to a refund in India?
Only conditionally. A full refund is due if the airline cannot re-accommodate you on an alternate flight within six hours, or if the journey’s purpose is defeated and you decline onward travel. A diversion does not automatically cancel your ticket, so refunds are not guaranteed the moment a plane lands in the wrong city.
Will I get money if my flight is diverted because of fog?
You get care, not cash. Fog is force majeure, which removes the airline’s duty to pay fixed compensation but not its duty to provide information, refreshments, onward travel to your destination, and an overnight hotel with transfers if you are held past the 24-hour or late-night thresholds. No cash, but you are not abandoned.
Can the airline leave me stranded at the diversion airport?
No. Because your ticket was to the original destination, the airline must arrange onward travel by air or surface transport and bear the ground-transport cost. The single exception is if you were told of the change at least six hours in advance, in which case you arrange your own transfer to the new airport.
Is there a time limit to be let off the plane during a diversion?
India has no hard deplaning clock like the US three-hour tarmac rule. Under the MoCA charter, if the wait exceeds two hours the airline should arrange disembarkation and refreshments, but actually getting off depends on the diversion airport being authorised to process passengers and on local-authority approval.
How do I complain about how a diversion was handled?
Contact the airline’s Nodal Officer first, escalate to its Appellate Authority if unresolved, then use AirSewa (MoCA). Airlines are expected to respond within about 30 days. Officer names and emails differ by carrier, so check the specific airline’s grievance page. If a connection collapsed, see our missed connecting flight guide.
Do international diversions to or from India pay more?
Possibly, but not automatically. On international tickets the Montreal Convention 1999 can make an airline liable for proven delay losses, subject to SDR limits, and the carrier can avoid liability by proving it took all reasonable measures. It is unrelated to EU261 and requires evidence of loss, so travel insurance is often the more reliable route for consequential costs.
The bottom line
A diversion is not a jackpot, but it is also not a dead end. Indian rules give you care, a paid route to your real destination, and a conditional refund, even when fog rules out any cash. The mistake to avoid is expecting a fixed payout that does not exist, or accepting being dumped in the wrong city when the airline owes you onward travel. Know the three pillars (information, care, onward travel) and you can hold the airline to them calmly.
Planning around the winter fog window or a tight connection? Compare fares and routes upfront, and read our linked guides on flight delay compensation and what to do when an airline cancels your flight so you walk into the airport knowing your rights.
Disclaimer: The rules, thresholds and refund timelines above are indicative, reflect the position as of June 2026, and can change. DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements and airline policies are updated periodically, and specifics vary by carrier and by your fare type. Always confirm the current position with the airline and the DGCA before relying on it.
