Passengers Get Compensation From Indian Airlines

Saturday, 23rd March 2013 at 03:22am

The now-defunct Indian Airlines was ordered by the national consumer commission to pay two complainants, a man and his daughter, Rs50,000 as compensation for a canceled flight.

India's National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has issued the order to the management of Indian Airlines, who has since merged with Air India to form a new airline in 2007. The commission has dismissed the plea of the erstwhile Indian Airlines against orders earlier issued by the district and state of Kerala citing the airline's failure to deliver the kind of service due to the said customers.

The state commission upped the compensation to Rs50,000 to the two complainants, or Rs21,000 more from what the district commissioner had earlier ordered the erring airline to pay to the man and his daughter.

The NCDRC explained that the decision reached by the state commission was fair enough considering the weight of the airline's offense. It further added that the commissioner was seeking the airline's justification for the delay and subsequent cancellation of the flight, rather than the manner by which they handled the passengers after the incident.

The commissioner further noted that the airline was remiss of its obligation to provide its customers the kind of service due them, which is to bring them to their destination on time and on the manner by which the airline is supposed to perform to satisfy their (passengers) needs.

The incident happened on May 19, 2006 when K Balachandran Thampi from Kerala state together with his daughter bought tickets for each of them via Indian Airlines for their trip to Bangalore. Much to their disappointment, they were informed that their 4pm flight wouldn't leave until 10pm, or six hours later. They got no other options but wait.

The thing that they feared most came, amidst physical and emotional stress arising from 6-long hours of anxiously waiting for their flight. Their flight got canceled, much to their horror.

The commissioner was not pleased by the airline's attempt to exonerate itself from its wrongdoing, instead of justifying the cause of the problem.

Later on, however, the airline issued statements explaining that the cancellation of the said flight was due to the technical problem the plane unexpectedly encountered while on the ground. As a result, it prevented the plane from flying sooner than they wanted as it needed to be fixed. It further said that the airline didn't want to compromise the safety of their passengers. Hence, the cancellation of the flight.

The cancellation of their flight caused a tremendous emotional distress to the two passengers, especially to the daughter, who was supposed to take an entrance exam to a school for her post-graduate studies.

The father said that if only the airline gave them timely advice about the cancellation, they would have arranged an alternative trip to Bangalore.

By: Pete Lee.