IndiGo Delay Compensation 2026: What You Are Owed at 2, 4 and 6 Hours

Last updated: Sep 17, 2026

On this page

What IndiGo owes you
- How to claim it
Questions
Sources

What IndiGo owes you

IndiGo’s own Compensation and Plan B pages, plus DGCA rules, checked 17 September 2026. Compensation in INR. Replacement seats via Wego search.

What happened to your flight

Nothing yet, but keep your delay messageYou getNothing extra from IndiGo yetWhyThe DGCA meal clock has not opened. It starts at two hours on IndiGo’s shorter routes, later on longer onesCashNone. A delay on its own is never paid in cash in IndiaRefundNot at this length. Plan B needs a two-hour delay to open

Meals and refreshments, and Plan B opensYou getMeals and refreshments appropriate to the waitTriggerTwo hours on IndiGo’s shorter routes, up to three or four hours on longer ones, set by the DGCA and keyed to the flight’s own lengthPlan BRebook free on another IndiGo flight, or take a full refund instead of waitingCashNone yetRefundCredited in seven business days once you request it under Plan B

Meals continue, plus a hotel if it is overnightYou getMeals and refreshments. By four hours, every route length has triggered thisHotelOnly if your flight was due out between 8pm and 3amCashNoneRefundPlan B is still open: rebook free or take a full refund

A new flight within 6 hours, a full refund, or a hotelYou getA seat on an alternate IndiGo flight leaving within six hours, or a full refund. Domestic flights, and the choice is yours, not IndiGo’sHotelIf the flight was due out between 8pm and 3am, or the delay passes 24 hours. Transfers includedCashStill none at this lengthRefundSeven business days once processedNoteIndiGo does not publish its own ladder past this point. Everything above follows the DGCA rule directly

A new flight or a full refund, and cash if the warning was late2 weeks upAn alternate flight or a refund, whichever you preferUnder 2 weeksAn alternate flight, or a full refund if nothing suitable existsUnder 24 hrsAn alternate flight, or a full refund plus cashHow much₹5,000 up to an hour of flying, ₹7,500 up to two, ₹10,000 beyondThe catchIndiGo pays that cap or your one-way basic fare plus fuel charge, whichever is lowerWhile waitingMeals and refreshments, if you are already at the airport

Up to ₹20,000, paid into your bankFirstIndiGo says it does not overbook, and must call for volunteers before bumping anyoneWithin 1 hrNothing owed, if the replacement leaves within an hour of your originalWithin 24 hrs200% of your one-way basic fare plus fuel charge, capped at ₹10,000Later400% of the same, capped at ₹20,000You declineA full refund, plus that same 400% capped at ₹20,000Paid howCash or bank transfer. A voucher counts only if you signed for it

IndiGo publishes no delay ladder of its own: its Compensation and Plan B pages point straight to the regulator. A delay alone never pays cash in India, however long it runs. Cash starts only on a cancellation or a bump. Full national rules: our DGCA passenger rights guide.

If you took the refund

A refund leaves you without a seat. See what IndiGo is flying now.

See IndiGo flights on Wego

How to claim it

Step	What to do
1. Customer Experience	Email [email protected] and ask for your reference number
2. Nodal Officer	No reply? Email [email protected], quoting that number
3. Appellate Authority	Still stuck? Email [email protected] with the same number
4. AirSewa	File on the government’s own complaints portal if IndiGo does not resolve it

Questions

Does IndiGo pay cash for a delayed flight?

No. A delay on its own pays no cash in India, however long it runs. IndiGo owes meals and refreshments once the DGCA’s waiting-time trigger opens, and past six hours you can take a full refund or a seat on another flight instead.

How much does IndiGo pay if it cancels my flight?

₹5,000, ₹7,500 or ₹10,000, set by how long the flight was, and only when you were told less than 24 hours before departure. IndiGo pays that cap or your one-way basic fare plus fuel charge, whichever is lower.

What is IndiGo’s Plan B?

IndiGo’s own name for the free rebooking or refund it owes you once a delay passes two hours, or a flight is brought forward by an hour or more. You pick a different IndiGo flight at no extra cost, or cancel for a full refund instead of waiting it out.

When does IndiGo have to pay for a hotel?

When the delay passes 24 hours, or passes six hours on a flight that was due to leave between 8pm and 3am. Transfers to and from the hotel are included.

How long does an IndiGo refund take?

IndiGo says seven business days once a Plan B refund is processed. Refunds routed through a travel agent or booking site follow the DGCA’s own clock instead, which requires those to complete within 14 working days.

What if fog or weather caused the delay?

Cash is generally excluded when the cause sits outside the airline’s control. You should still be offered a refund or alternate travel on a cancellation. Our DGCA passenger rights guide covers how that exemption works.

Do these rules cover my IndiGo flight to Dubai or elsewhere abroad?

Yes. The DGCA rules cover flights operated to and from India, so an IndiGo international service is included. For how other countries handle the same problem, see our comparison of compensation by country.

Sources

IndiGo, Compensation, the cancellation amounts and the DGCA reference they follow, retrieved 17 September 2026.
IndiGo, Flight Delays & Cancellations FAQ, the rebooking and refund rights and the hotel-at-transit provision, retrieved 17 September 2026.
IndiGo, Plan B, the free rebook-or-refund option and its seven-business-day refund clock, retrieved 17 September 2026.
IndiGo, Contact Us, the Customer Experience, Nodal Officer and Appellate Authority escalation emails, retrieved 17 September 2026.
DGCA, CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, the national rules the amounts come from, retrieved 17 September 2026.
DGCA, CAR Section 3, Series M, Part II, Revision 3, the agent and portal refund window, dated 24 February 2026 and effective 26 March 2026, retrieved 17 September 2026.
AirSewa, the government grievance portal named in step four, retrieved 17 September 2026.

How these figures were produced

Every figure is IndiGo’s own published commitment, taken from its Compensation, Plan B and Flight Delays & Cancellations pages on 17 September 2026, or the DGCA rule those pages point back to. Nothing is estimated.
IndiGo does not publish a separate refreshment ladder of its own the way some other Indian carriers do. Its own pages state that delay and cancellation compensation is processed as per the DGCA guideline, so the waiting-time triggers on this page are the regulator’s, keyed to the flight’s scheduled block time: two hours for a route booked at up to two hours thirty minutes, rising to four hours on a route above five hours.
Cash amounts, the denied-boarding percentages and the notice bands are set nationally by DGCA CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, Revision 4, in force since 15 February 2023. They are identical across Indian carriers.
Weather, air traffic control and other causes outside the airline’s control can remove the meal and hotel duties. The six-hour refund clause is not named in that exemption.
IndiGo’s own refund clock is seven business days once a Plan B refund is processed directly. A separate DGCA rule, CAR Section 3, Series M, Part II, Revision 3, effective 26 March 2026, requires refunds routed through a travel agent or booking site to complete within 14 working days.
Punctuality figures were deliberately left off this page for the same reason they were left off our SpiceJet build: no reliable, current primary source could be retrieved.

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