Consumer Wins Case Against Qatar Airways
Consumer court orders Qatar Airways to pay Rs 45,000 fine
Hyderabad: A consumer court has ordered Qatar Airways to pay Rs 45,000 as compensation to a city-based senior citizen for the “deficiency of service”. The petitioner, P. Rama Kanth, sued Qatar Airways for making him and his family to travel in IndiGo instead of the premium airline which he had opted and paid for.
The petitioner complained that, during the changeover, to his surprise, the flight from Doha to Hyderabad was operated by a low-cost airline — IndiGo — instead of Qatar Airways.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Rama Kanth, a resident of Neredmet, said, “I booked three tickets for my wife, grandson and me on Qatar Airways for travelling from Budapest to Hyderabad with a changeover at Doha.”
“My ticket showed a Qatar Airways flight number for both segments and made no mention of IndiGo. It was only when I collected the boarding passes in Budapest that I discovered the Doha-Hyderabad leg was operated by IndiGo, with their own flight number… It felt like any ordinary domestic flight — for example, Hyderabad to Bengaluru.”
Explaining why he filed the case, he said, “I approached the consumer court after a prolonged correspondence with Qatar Airways, as they failed to respond in a proper manner. Eventually, I had no option but to take legal action.”
He thanked B. Uma Venkata Subba Lakshmi, president, and D. Madhavi Latha, member, of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-I, Hyderabad.