A consumer commission directed Indigo Airlines to pay ₹5 lakh as compensation to a family for cancelling flight tickets of a family who were scheduled to embark on a holiday.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Rangareddy was dealing with a complaint filed by 26-year-old Naga Anjani Mounica Allumolu, who was represented by her general power of attorney holder Allumolu Giridhar Rao. The opposite parties (OP) were InterGlobe Aviation Limited (Indigo Airlines) represented by their Chief Executive Officer, and the company’s registered office Thapar House in New Delhi.
The complainant stated that tickets for five people to travel to Port Blair from Hyderabad via Chennai were booked on December 4, 2020 on the travel portal yatra.com. A payment of ₹92,210 was made. The complainant stated payments for stay at hotels at Port Blair and Havelock Islands as well as transport charges were already made. But on the day of their scheduled departure the complainant received an email stating that tickets were cancelled. The complainant read the email only three hours before departure. Interesting, he was issued boarding passes at 9 am, and expressed shock at PNRs being cancelled. The tickets were not cancelled at their request, but by the company, the complainant stated. To reach their destination, they had to pay an additional ₹1,07,590.
The OP contended that contrary to the complainant’s claims, the case was of voluntary booking cancellation, and not flight cancellation. The airline was entitled to levy cancellation fee. However, as a gesture of goodwill, the OP had refunded a total of ₹1,07,570, as against payments totalling ₹1,99,780. They maintained that they had gone beyond their “obligation” by paying a compensation of ₹7,320, and travel vouchers worth ₹500.
Taking the evidence and arguments placed on record, the Commission stated that the OP had not filed cogent evidence connected to the complainant cancelling the confirmed tickets. The OP caused a great deal of inconvenience to the complainant at “every stage of the tour”. “It is really humiliation to the travellers to purchase tickets again for the same flights for to-and-fro journey though holding confirmed tickets. There is no error on the part of complainant as he did not cancel the ticket, and the total fault is of the opposite parties hence, they are liable to pay damages for such an extreme degree of negligence,” the Commission stated.
The Commission then directed the OP to pay ₹5 lakh compensation and costs of ₹10,000.
