The Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed an airliner to refund half of the airfare collected from a passenger who could not undertake the journey.
In a recent order, the Forum said K. Suresh of Anegundi, Bejai, had booked his journey by Jet Airways from Mangalore to Nagpur paying Rs.17,178 for himself and his wife. The flight was scheduled to leave at 11.20 a.m. on December 28, 2012. The two were denied a boarding pass and they travelled in another flight of the same airlines. They had to attend a function at Nagpur the next day.
Forum president Asha Shetty said the complainant had categorically admitted that they had reached Mangalore airport at 10.50 a.m. She said the e-ticket clearly stipulated that “check-in starts two hours before scheduled departure of the flight and closes 45 minutes prior to departure time...”. Since they came “very late”, the forum said the opposite party was not responsible for any deficiency in service.
However, in order to ensure justice was done, the opposite party should have cancelled their bookings and refunded at least half of the flight ticket charge, as they had not availed of the services and had travelled by another flight which belonged to the same airlines.
