Hi

I am wondering if there is any consumer protection when an Indian domestic airline cancels a flight.

I had made a reservation for two passengers for a domestic non-stop (~45 min) flight in India through Jet Airways. Jet Airways informed me about 20 days in advance that the flight I had reserved has been canceled, and instead booked us on a flight that leaves about 3.5 hours later.

Jet Airways also offered me a full refund. But there are no other flights available that would leave around the same time as my original reservation.

I had already made several travel arrangements based on the original itinerary.

I looked up some info on DGCA website.

http://dgca.nic.in/cars/D3M-M4.pdf

Section 3.3.1 states, "In order to reduce inconvenience caused to the passengers as a result of the cancellations of the flights on which they are booked to travel, airline shall inform the passenger of the cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure and arrange alternate flight/refund as acceptable to the passenger."

So it sounds like the airline is off the hook in my case. That doesn't sound fair to me, because I would have to pay rescheduling fees if I had asked to change my flights.

Is my understanding correct?