Pay Rs 50,000 to passenger for six-hour flight delay: Consumer forum to Alliance Air

Mainawati Devi, the complainant in this case, had alleged that in June 2022, she was to board a flight from New Delhi to Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur from Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, to attend an “urgent religious ceremony”.

Devi was at the airport by 8 am and cleared all pre-boarding formalities by 10 am. The boarding gates were opened only at noon.

As per Devi, when they boarded the flight, the air conditioning wasn’t working, and no refreshment was offered to them despite them waiting for hours. They were then made to de-board the plane “without any reason being given”.

For the next four hours, the passengers were told nothing. Finally, close to five hours after the scheduled takeoff, the passengers were again asked to board the flight, which took off at 5.30 pm.

“The question is whether the delay is for a reason beyond the control of OP, like bad weather, want of clearance from ATC, poor visibility, dense fog, etc. There is nothing on record that the delay was on account of reasons beyond the control of OP. The delay is of near about 6 hours. The information on the delay was not provided to passengers, including the complainants. There is negligence on the part of the OP in maintaining the aircraft as an engineering snag was allegedly detected,” the Commission added.

It directed the airlines to pay Rs 50,000 for mental harassment, agony, and litigation expenses within 45 days of passing the order.

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