Hyderabad: Mr Ram Prasad Poosaala, a Hong Kong-based businessman, is suing Cathay Pacific after his 12-year-old son was allegedly left unattended though he had paid for his son to be assisted by the airline staff on landing.
The boy, Raja Ram Prasad Poosaala, was reportedly picked up by a stranger after landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad from Hong Kong last October but was spotted by his uncle as he was being escorted out of the airport.
Mr Poosaala has accused the airline of deficiency of service and gross negligence and is asking for $250,000 (about Rs 1.6 crore) in compensation, according to reports.
Apple Daily reported that Raja Ram travelled on his own from Hong Kong to India to visit his grandmother. Mr Poosaala had specifically requested for the unaccompanied minor service with the airline but claimed it was not fulfilled, according to the report. The boy is said to have disembarked the plane on his own and went missing for two hours.
Mr Poosaala claimed that no one had contacted the boy’s uncle, who was waiting outside the gate, to tell him that the boy had landed, the paper reported.
The uncle reportedly received a mysterious phone call from a man to tell him the boy was with him. The caller hung up without revealing details according to the allegations published by Apple Daily. Eventually, the boy is said to have emerged from the gate in the company of a man who did not have airline identification and who immediately left.
While efforts to trace the family members of Mr Poosaala in Hyderabad proved futile, RGIA sub-inspector Ramesh Naik said they had not received any complaint about the incident. “Usually a complaint is lodged if a passenger goes missing from the airport after landing. In this case it was a boy from the airport. Because the family members got the boy back, they may not have lodged a complaint,” he said.
Consumer activist and advocate M. Venugopal said one has to verify whether the service for which payment was made was available up to RGIA. “If the service was up to RGIA, then Mr Poosaala has a strong case for compensation from the Cathay Pacific,” he said.
The South China Morning Post reported that the boy had been wearing a badge indicating that he needed assistance. In the same report, the uncle is said to have written to Cathay to complain about the incident, claiming that the boy could have been kidnapped or used to smuggle illegal items.
The airline is said to have offered US$75 as compensation, which was later increased to US$200 according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper.
Mr Poosaala has chosen to sue the airline to prevent similar incidents in the future and is demanding US$250,000 in compensation plus legal fees. According to the fees listed on the airline’s website, this service for unaccompanied minor starts from $64.
There are no direct flights from Hong Kong to Hyderabad and it’s not clear whether this was the reason why Raja Ram was allegedly left unattended. A Cathay Pacific spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: “Sorry, we are unable to comment as legal proceeding is under way.”
