The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission here has set aside a district forum order directing an airline to compensate a passenger by paying ₹25,000.
The district forum had ordered the compensation after it was alleged that the passenger had missed his flight to Kolkata due to lack of announcement in connection with departure of the flight.
Dismissing the complainant’s allegations, the panel held, “In absence of any cogent or tangible evidence either by any passenger travelling on that flight complaining [against] lack of announcement about the departure, we are unable to accept the allegation of the complainant regarding deficiency of service on the part of the Airlines [IndiGo].”
The consumer panel added, “This leads us to an inescapable conclusion that the complainant reported late at the gate and it is a trite law that there exists no deficiency of service on the part of the [airlines] in the event that the complainant fails to report on time.”
Challenging the district forum order for compensation, the airlines had contended that “officials at the Delhi Airport also called the complainant on his registered mobile number but did not receive any response, and therefore IndiGo officials treated the complainant as a ‘no show’ passenger for the said flight.”
The complainant had alleged that despite having a boarding pass and reporting at the assigned gate, he was informed by officials that his flight’s departure had been delayed. “He waited, but when he sought the status of the flight after sometime, much to his surprise and shock, he was informed that the flight had already left,” read the complaint in the order.
