The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Kottayam has directed Air India to pay ₹7 lakh as compensation to a person who has been denied permission to board flight to England despite possessing a valid ticket.
The order was issued recently while considering a complaint lodged by Thenatt Antony, a native of Udayanapuram in Vaikom. Mr. Antony had booked a ticket with Air India on August 25, 2018 to England from Kochi for attending his son’s wedding in Birmingham, England, three days later.
As he was unable to catch the flight from Kochi, Mr. Antony purchased another ticket from the same airline to Birmingham from New Delhi. The airline, however, prevented him from travelling citing that the person, who has a permanent residence permit in Britain, had stayed outside Britain for more than two years.
Following this, Mr.Antony returned to Kochi and travelled by a foreign carrier via Qatar to reach Manchester. By the time he reached Birmingham by road, the marriage function was over.
Verifying the complaint, the commission could confirm that the person had travelled to England via Qatar using the same travel permit that was turned down by Air India. It further found that the denial of travel permission to a passenger, who had all travel documents and a valid ticket, on unjust grounds amounted to service deficiency on the part of the airline.
Based on the findings, the commission ordered the airline to pay ₹7 lakh as compensation to Mr. Antony for mental distress and suffering caused by not being able to attend his son’s wedding.
