Air India fined for flight delay

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 10

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Air India to refund Rs 6,000, price of an air ticket, along with a compensation worth Rs 5,000 and litigation expenses amounting to Rs 3,000 to a local man.

Robin Tuli, a resident of Basant Nagar, had filed a complaint against Air India stating that he booked an air ticket for travelling from New Delhi to Amritsar for November 3, 2017. He reached the airport well in time as the said flight was to take off at 5 am but he was not issued boarding pass. Later, the complainant was issued the boarding pass for travel at 8.20 am. Later, he was made to board the aircraft only to be refused minutes later and again wait till noon. No aircraft was made available for flight for the boarding pass issued.

He stated that he had another flight booked from Amritsar to Delhi to Gauhati at 15.25 pm on the same day for further appointments regarding his work.

The opposite party, in its reply, stated that since weather in Amritsar was not good on the said date, and messages regarding the scheduled time of the flight were sent to passengers. It was denied that the complainant was not put on any flight by the opposite party till noon without any cogent reason.

In this respect, it was submitted that the said flight on the scheduled time was ready for take off from Delhi to Amritsar, but a technical glitch surfaced in the aircraft. Later, the passengers, including the complainant, who boarded it were informed about the fault and they were requested to wait for some time. It stated that that the technical fault in the said flight was fixed and, accordingly, it was sent to Amritsar at 1.15 pm.

The forum observed that the opposite party had taken two different stand, firstly by stating that due to bad weather in Amritsar the flight was rescheduled and the passengers, including the complainant, were duly informed on their registered mobile numbers. But no such evidence has been placed on record that the complainant along with other passengers were informed regarding it.

The forum stated the opposite party couldn’t place evidence in support of its second plea as well.