India mandates airlines to allocate 60% of seats free of charge
The directive creates a binding allocation requirement that limits airlines' ability to monetize the majority of seat inventory on each flight and establishes uniform passenger-service obligations on seating, pet carriage, and passenger-rights compliance.
Change
India required airlines to make at least 60% of seats on every flight selectable without an extra fee, to seat passengers booked under the same Passenger Name Record (PNR) together, and to prominently publish passenger entitlements for delays, cancellations, and baggage loss.
Why it matters
Airlines must restructure ancillary-revenue models and seat-allocation algorithms so a majority of inventory cannot be monetised through seat fees, forcing immediate IT and pricing changes. Reservation, boarding and operational processes must be updated to enforce group seating at issuance and boarding, increasing operational compliance checks.
Implications
- — Airlines' revenue management teams must reconfigure ancillary seat inventory and pricing so that at least 60% of seats per flight are offered without extra fees, or their pricing frameworks will breach the ministry's directive.
- — Airlines' reservations and operations teams must modify seat-allocation and boarding procedures to ensure passengers booked under the same Passenger Name Record (PNR) are assigned adjacent seats at booking and at boarding, or issued tickets will not meet the seating requirement.
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