Chennai: Holding Indigo Airlines responsible for negligence and deficiency in service and unfair trade practice, the district consumer disputes redressal forum, Chennai (north), directed the private airline to refund Rs 21,000 to a passenger. Due to its negligence, a woman and her daughters were stranded in New Delhi for three days.
The petitioner, Ravi Ragav of Nolambur, submitted that he had booked three air tickets for his wife, Dr Pankaja Ragav, and two children, for Rs 30,371. He booked the tickets with the help of yatra.com from New Delhi to Chennai on May 30, 2010.
Counsel for the petitioner, P. Vinodkumar, contended that Ravi Ragav had attempted to revise the travel plan and planned to book tickets for May 26 instead of May 30 and the process was not completed due to a non-functioning debit card.
Counsel for Indigo Airlines, Mothilal Goda, submitted that the forum had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint. The petitioner was required to pay Rs 9,447 for re-scheduling, but due to an error in fund transfer, tickets for May 26 were not issued. The amount was forfeited.
Counsel for yatra.com, Prashant Rajagopal, replied that the petitioner had directly contacted the airlines for cancellation. Alternative tickets were not issued due to non-functioning of the debit card.
The bench, comprising president R. Mohandoss and member T. Kalaiyarasi, said the cancellation was accepted as the trio had not travelled on the basis of re-scheduling. The bench directed the airline to deduct Rs 9,447 towards cancellation charges and refund Rs 20,924 to the petitioner. The bench also directed the private airline to pay him a cost of Rs 2,000 in six weeks.
