Keep a file that lets the airline identify the flight, understand what happened and see the remedy you are asking it to consider. A boarding-pass photo alone rarely tells the whole story. The checklist below is our practical recordkeeping method, not a claim that every airline or complaint portal requires every item.
Start with the booking and the actual event
Keep the original booking confirmation, ticket number, booking reference, passenger name, operating airline, flight date, route and any revised itinerary together. Distinguish the airline operating the flight from an agency that sold it. For a connection, identify whether the affected flights are on one ticket or separately booked. Do not infer protection just because an app displays them together.
Write a short timeline while the facts are fresh. Include dates, local times and airports, the original and revised departure or arrival, what you asked for, which desk or channel you used and the response. Label your recollection as a note, not an airline confirmation. Keep airline messages in their original form, with their dates, rather than retaining only a cropped fragment.
Decision tree: which evidence fits the complaint?
Flight delayed, cancelled or diverted? Keep the original schedule, disruption notices, revised booking and the airline's recorded explanation. Separate what the airline told you from an airport display or your own recollection.
Boarding refused? Keep the confirmed booking, boarding pass if issued, the stated refusal reason and evidence of when you reported. Oversale, late reporting and a document problem are different cases; the same compensation branch does not cover them all.
Checked-bag problem? Keep the baggage tag, airline incident report or reference, condition photos and the written claim. An airport report and a claim for payment are separate steps. Use the detailed baggage guides below for that job.
Refund not received? Keep the cancellation or refund request, its acknowledgment, amount claimed, booking source, payment record and any airline or agency response. Mark a request as requested, not paid.
This file supports a review. It does not establish a universal compensation amount, prove that an expense is covered or replace a written complaint within an applicable deadline. Act promptly and check the rules for the actual event and carrier rather than waiting to collect every possible attachment.
For an Air India disruption, ask for the right statement
Air India's Flight Disruption Statement page describes a free document for use as evidence in an insurance claim. It covers delayed, cancelled and diverted flights operated by Air India only. The page allows verification for the past six months and says a statement is issued only 24 hours after flight arrival. For its delay category, arrival must be more than 15 minutes late.
Its stated flight details are flight number, travel date, origin and destination. Obtain it through the airline's own page and keep the issued document with the corresponding itinerary. The page describes email verification before sending the statement. Do not share that verification code with someone claiming to handle a complaint for you.
The 15-minute condition is for this statement, not a DGCA compensation threshold. The document is not an insurer's claim approval or an airline promise to repay your hotel. If your event is not covered by the statement process, Air India directs you to Customer Support. Do not invent a disruption certificate or edit a notice to make the case fit.
Keep expense evidence separate from the entitlement
For an expense you want reviewed, retain an itemised invoice, payment evidence, date, currency and why it relates to the disruption. Keep any prior approval, voucher or written refusal beside it. Record refunds or payments already received so the amount outstanding is clear. These are our file-building suggestions, not a promise that all consequential losses are recoverable.
A meal receipt does not by itself establish a meal entitlement, and an insurance document list is not automatically the airline's complaint list. If medical details or another traveller's records are relevant, send only what the official process needs through its appropriate private channel. Keep readable originals separately; redact public copies, not your only evidence.
Submit one traceable case and retain the response
Air India's current Customer Support Portal asks you to select a category. Its grievance page says a submission receives a unique Case ID and sets out Customer Support, Nodal Officer and Appellate Authority routes. Keep that Case ID, the submitted text, attachments and acknowledgment together; quote it when supplying the specific further information requested. Its page also lists AirSewa.
For disruption complaints, DGCA CAR paragraph 3.9 provides airline and AirSewa routes. Paragraph 3.4.5 places the burden of proving whether and when delay information was given on the operating airline. Your own dated notices can still help explain a discrepancy. This article does not verify AirSewa's current upload fields, file limits or a universal response deadline.
Finish with a clear request: identify the affected flight, describe the disputed action or unresolved amount, and ask for the applicable remedy and reasons. Keep the reply and case status. An acknowledgment is not acceptance of liability, and a complaint is not permission to cross a closed gate or ignore airport instructions.
Sources and related checks
Checked 29 October 2026: Air India Flight Disruption Statement; Air India Customer Support Portal; Air India grievance resolution; DGCA CAR, especially 3.4.5, 3.9 and 3.10.
Delayed checked bag: report and written claim. Insurance claim documents are a separate file.
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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