Eight months after a Bengaluru citizen missed his international flight to Switzerland due to a delay in a domestic flight, a consumer court in Karnataka has ordered Air India to pay Rs 2.08 lakh to the passenger, holding it liable for “deficiency in service and unfair trade practice”.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Bengaluru on May 22 ordered Air India to pay the compensation to Jitender Kumar, a resident of ITI Layout in Bengaluru, saying that “being a reputed airline”, it “should have taken initiative” to arrange another flight in time for Kumar.
As per Kumar’s complaint, on September 14, 2023, he was scheduled to board a Bengaluru-Mumbai Air India flight at 9.24 pm. From Mumbai, Kumar was to catch an international flight to Zurich, Switzerland, that was to depart at 6.40 am on September 15.
During check-in, Kumar was informed of a delay in boarding time, which had been revised to 10.50 pm. Concerned about the possibility of missing his flight to Zurich, Kumar approached the Air India staff requesting accommodation on another flight to Mumbai. The Air India staff allegedly assured him that the flight would be available within the designated time frame and boarding would begin as soon as the aircraft landed in Bengaluru from Mumbai.
Flight AI 641 reached Bengaluru at 1.58 am on September 15, however, boarding for AI 642 (Bengaluru-Mumbai) did not commence immediately. Ideally, the flight should have departed 55 minutes after it landed in Bengaluru (typically, the flight arrives in Bengaluru at 8.30 pm and departs for Mumbai at 9.25 pm daily). However, an additional delay of over three hours occurred. Kumar missed his international flight, which left Mumbai as per schedule.
In his complaint, Kumar said that he requested assistance for over six hours but Air India declined to provide an alternative flight to Zurich, offering only domestic options. After 12 hours of persistent appeals, Kumar reluctantly accepted a flight to Delhi. Consequently, Kumar had to book another flight from Delhi to Zurich on the same day, incurring a cost of approximately Rs 1.67 lakh. Additionally, he had booked accommodation in Zurich for Rs 11,426, which was not utilised due to the delay.
“…the opposite party (Air India) has agreed to the fact that there was delay and denied any compensation as they have rescheduled flight to Delhi for the complainant (Kumar). It is true that a flight was rescheduled but the complainant has incurred a loss of Rs 1,67,078,” M Shobha, the president of the commission, said in the order.
“The OP [opposite party] being a reputed airline should have taken initiative to alternate the scheduled flight to Mumbai through any other flight well in time. The OP fails to arrange alternative flight to Mumbai as not only the complainant but all the consumers/customers travelling through the said flight would have faced difficulties and inconvenience due to the delay in the flight that had to travel to Mumbai from Bangalore on 14 September 2023. The OP has shown deficiency in service and unfair trade practice,” the order said.
The court has ordered Air India to pay Rs 1,78,503 with an interest of 6 per cent per annum from the date of booking the ticket and Rs 25,000 towards deficiency of service and Rs 5,000 towards litigation charges. The court has ordered Air India to comply with the order within 45 days, failing which Air India will have to pay an interest of 8 per cent per annum till the release of the money.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 28-05-2024 at 16:43 IST
