Client cancels with a doctor's note: what you still refund

Your client's husband is admitted to hospital with dengue two days before a Dubai package departs, discharge summary and doctor's note in hand. Your itinerary's fine print says cancellations are "not subject to a cash refund." Before a consumer commission, that slab is unlikely to survive a documented, promptly reported medical cancellation, and you don't need it to: the defensible refund is neither zero nor the full price.

This post covers what commissions have ordered on medical cancellations against no-refund clauses, a 72-hour protocol for a defensible number, a worked file, and a clause plus scripts to paste into your own terms.

What commissions have done with a doctor's note and a no-refund slab

Five orders against Indian agents and OTAs on medical cancellations show a pattern: where the operator stayed silent, gave no cost break-up or offered late, clients ended up with 43-75% of the price back. Full forfeiture held where the client's own notice was late, verbal or undocumented.

Order	Facts	Outcome
Telangana SCDRC, Archana Travels, 9 Mar 2026	₹1,16,000 Dubai package; husband diagnosed with dengue 2 days out, in hospital through the trip dates; operator absent before the District Commission	District: ₹1,10,200 + interest. State cut to ₹50,000 (43%), no break-up
Telangana SCDRC, MakeMyTrip, 26 Jul 2024	₹4,26,380 package, four pax; client fell ill 2 days out, hospital record produced; only airfare refunded	No "cost break up"; State halved the withheld amount, to ₹1,00,414 (about 57% of the price back in all)
Hyderabad DC, Thomas Cook, reported 28 Mar 2024	₹1,00,000 Bhutan package, two pax; urinary tract infection; health exception expressly naming Covid-19	Exception read as covering "any significant health issue"; ₹75,000 (75%) or a credit note, plus ₹10,000 compensation; the operator's 75% offer came only after the complaint
Delhi SCDRC, Dharampal Jain, 16 Sep 2020	₹3,11,959 US tour; son diagnosed with cancer, 4 days' verbal notice; clause needed written notice, 10+ days	Dismissed: notice too late, never in writing
Gujarat SCDRC, Akbarbhai Guliwala, 16 Sep 2020	₹10,000 deposit; no advance intimation, medical report dated two months after the tour began	Forfeiture upheld, belated intimation

These are orders on their own facts, not binding rules. The Thomas Cook figures come from a press report; we could not find the order text on Indian Kanoon.

Why "policy hai" loses and "here is what came back" wins

In the orders above, a no-refund clause lost for two repeating reasons: the penalty looked disproportionate to the operator's actual loss, and the operator wouldn't show what cancelling cost. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which governs complaints filed today, defines an "unfair contract" in section 2(46) to include terms imposing a penalty "wholly disproportionate to the loss" or "any unreasonable charge, obligation or condition which puts such consumer to disadvantage." Section 2(11) counts "deliberate withholding of relevant information" as a deficiency in service.

The 2024 MakeMyTrip order, decided under the older 1986 Act, faulted the same gap: the operator "failed to provide the cost break up," so withholding the balance was "rather unfair." A 2026 Chandigarh order on an air ticket, not a medical case, said the same of an undocumented deduction: "A mere assertion that the balance represented cancellation charges is insufficient." The defensible number is not the T&C slab or the full price; it's what suppliers actually returned, plus a fee you can justify.

The 72-hour medical-cancellation protocol

Treat a medical cancellation as a documentation exercise that starts the hour it's reported, not once the client threatens a complaint; the Archana order faulted an operator who "chose to remain silent." None of this is a legal deadline, just the fastest route to a reasonable number.

1. Hour 0, same day: acknowledge in writing (no figure yet), and collect: discharge summary or doctor's certificate with diagnosis and unfit-to-travel dates, test reports, patient ID, relationship proof if a family member, and the booking confirmation.
2. Day 1, hotel/DMC: request, in order, a refund, a credit or date change, or (ground/hotel only, never air) a name change, with a written reply stating the amount retained. These waivers aren't a published right; treat every reply as a negotiated concession.
3. Day 1, airline: ask for statutory taxes and UDF/ADF/PSF first, refundable on every fare type, non-refundable ones included, under DGCA's 2026 refund rules. Separately, if the passenger or a same-PNR family member was hospitalised during the travel period, request the medical refund or credit shell the rules let the airline grant: it "may," not must ("travel period" isn't defined, so put the dates in writing and ask). The same rules say foreign carriers refund under their home country's regulations, so on those, ask and expect the airline's own policy. Don't promise a name transfer: the rules only cover correcting the same passenger's name. Full clock: DGCA's 2026 refund rules for agent-sold tickets.
4. Day 2: check the client's travel insurance, help assemble claim paperwork.
5. Day 3: send the written, itemised offer: cash figure and date, credit/date-change option, and what isn't recoverable, with proof.

Working the Dubai file: recoverable, sunk, and your share

Hypothetical, sized to the Archana package but not drawn from the order; every supplier figure is an assumption, an Indian carrier is assumed, and prices are pre-GST.

Cost line	Paid	Recovered	Sunk / kept
Air taxes, fees	₹11,000	₹11,000	0
Air base fare + surcharge	₹35,000	0 (credit shell, assumed)	₹35,000 unless used
Hotel, 5 nights	₹30,000	₹15,000 (50% waiver)	₹15,000
Transfers, sightseeing	₹12,000	₹10,000	₹2,000
UAE visas, issued	₹14,000	0	₹14,000
Agency fee	₹14,000	₹9,000 (waived)	₹5,000 (kept)

Example: Cash recovered: ₹36,000 (11,000 + 15,000 + 10,000). The agency keeps a stated ₹5,000 for work done and waives the rest of its margin: cash offer ₹45,000 (38.8%), plus the ₹35,000 credit shell if granted, roughly ₹80,000 (69%) total. Without the credit shell, ₹45,000 cash still sits close to the ₹50,000 (43%) the State Commission reached on a same-size package with no break-up at all.

What fighting it costs instead

The Archana case took over six years to reach a final number, and the clients were awarded less than half the price. Trip Aug 2019, complaint 8 Jan 2020, District order 1 June 2022 (₹1,10,200 plus 6% p.a. from the complaint date, plus ₹5,000 compensation and ₹5,000 costs), State order 9 March 2026 (₹50,000). Under section 41 of the CPA, an operator appealing a District order must first deposit 50% of the amount it was ordered to pay; on an award like Archana's, that is roughly ₹60,100 before interest.

And under section 69, a client has two years from the cause of action to file. None of that time or fee returns if you lose: an early written offer near the recoverable figure is cheaper. If a notice has already arrived, see your first 30 days after a consumer court notice.

The medical-cancellation clause

Keep medical cancellations out of your general slab. Write a separate clause so a hospital admission is never read against the same 10-day, 100%-forfeiture line a change-of-mind cancellation gets.

MEDICAL CANCELLATION CLAUSE

1. Applies when the traveller, an immediate family member (spouse,
   parent, child, sibling, parent-in-law) or travelling companion is
   hospitalised, certified unfit to travel by a registered medical
   practitioner, or dies.

2. Notify us in writing (WhatsApp [number] / email [address]) as
   soon as known. Cancellation date = date of written notice.

3. Send: discharge summary or doctor's certificate with diagnosis
   and unfit-to-travel dates, test reports, patient ID, relationship
   proof if a family member, and the booking confirmation.

4. We request a waiver, credit or date change from every supplier
   within 1 working day, and send an itemised statement (paid /
   recovered / not recoverable with proof / our fee) within 3
   working days.

5. You receive everything recovered, plus [x]% of our fee. Supplier
   credit shells/vouchers in your name pass on as-is. Statutory
   airline taxes refund once released by the airline.

6. Your choice: date change (fare/rate difference payable),
   substitute traveller where hotel/ground allow it (air tickets
   can't transfer), or a credit note valid [x] months.

7. Holders of trip-cancellation insurance get supplier cancellation
   statements for their claim; our refund doesn't wait on the
   insurer.

8. Does not apply to change-of-mind cancellations (standard slab).

Three choices matter: define "medical cancellation" broadly (Thomas Cook's health exception named Covid-19 and was still read as covering "any significant health issue"); keep written notice required, without using it against a genuine, prompt emergency (Delhi and Gujarat upheld forfeiture where notice was late or undocumented); and promise the itemised statement inside the clause itself, since the pattern above punishes operators who never produced one. See cancellation terms that survive consumer court and the cancellation policy built from what suppliers refund for the rest of your T&C.

Scripts: the first reply, the written offer, and the pre-sale insurance line

SCRIPT 1: Same-day first reply

[Name], so sorry to hear about [relation]'s hospitalisation. Please
don't worry about the booking right now.

Today we're writing to the hotel, DMC and airline for a medical
waiver, credit or date change. When you can, share: discharge
summary or doctor's certificate, test reports, [relation]'s ID.

We'll send a written statement within 3 working days with the exact
amount we can return. No number yet; we'd rather get it right than
guess.

SCRIPT 2: The written offer

Please find attached our itemised statement for booking [ref].
Recovered from suppliers: ₹[amount] (proof attached for each).
Not recoverable, with supplier proof: ₹[amount].
Our fee: ₹[amount], reduced from ₹[amount].

We can pay ₹[amount] by [date], offer a credit note valid for
[period], or move your dates for a fare/rate difference of
₹[amount]. Please tell us which by [date].

Sell trip-cancellation cover at booking, not on the eve of departure: an illness that started before the policy was bought is the kind of claim insurers typically exclude, so check the wording. As of October 2026, Tata AIG's International Plus caps trip cancellation at $1,000-$1,500 with a $100 deductible, and Digit's basic plan has none at all, only its higher tier. Pre-existing conditions are usually excluded; record a declined "no" in writing. See travel insurance pays 20-37%: the commission agents skip.

Common questions

Is a doctor's certificate enough for a full refund?

Not on the orders so far. Against a documented emergency, commissions left clients with 43% of the price in a 2026 case, about 57% in a 2024 case and 75% in another reported in 2024, not the full price; two 2020 orders upheld full forfeiture where notice was late or undocumented. A certificate makes a no-refund slab harder to enforce; it does not void it.

Bimari ki wajah se trip cancel refund milega kya?

Mil sakta hai, par pura nahi. Jin orders mein hospital papers the aur operator chup raha ya break-up nahi dikhaya, wahan clients ko price ka 43% se 75% tak wapas mila; jahan notice late ya sirf zubani tha, wahan kuch nahi mila. Agency suppliers se jo wapas le sakti hai, wahi defensible number hota hai.

Will the airline refund on medical grounds?

Sometimes, at its discretion, not as a right. Under DGCA's 2026 rules an airline "may" refund or issue a credit shell when the passenger or a same-PNR family member is hospitalised during the travel period; in other cases the refund waits on an aerospace-medicine specialist's opinion of the fitness-to-travel certificate. Statutory taxes and UDF/ADF/PSF come back on every fare regardless. Foreign carriers follow their home country's rules.

Does travel insurance pay instead of me?

Possibly, if the plan includes trip cancellation (not every plan does) and was bought before the illness started; pre-existing conditions are generally excluded. Confirm the cover, exclusions and start date in the policy wording with the insurer first.

The short version

• In the orders above, documented medical cancellations got 43-75% of the price back despite no-refund clauses; two 2020 orders upheld full forfeiture where notice was late or undocumented.
• The defensible number is what suppliers return, plus a stated fee, not the T&C slab.
• Acknowledge in writing the same day; silence is what a 2026 order faulted.
• Send every supplier a written waiver request within 24 hours; promise a statement in 3 working days.
• On Indian carriers, DGCA's rules return taxes and UDF/ADF/PSF on any fare; a medical refund or credit shell is the airline's discretion, never a right, and tickets can't transfer.
• Keep a separate medical-cancellation clause so it's never read against your change-of-mind slab.
• Sell trip-cancellation insurance at booking, upfront about its caps and exclusions.