Man lost job,airline to pay Rs 5 lakh

“One can well imagine the plight of a passenger who having entered into an aircraft and hoping to reach his destination prior to expiry of his re-entry permit is forced to get down with no hope of any alternate flight on the same day or the next.

“It must have been a traumatic experience and one has to place oneself in the complainant’s position to realise what a frightful experience he must have passed through,” the Commission,comprising Members B N P Singh and S K Naik,said.

The Commission said passengers having a confirmed ticket and reaching airport before time cannot be denied permission to board the plane.

“While the practice of booking over the permissible capacity in anticipation of some cancellation may be prevalent,any passenger with a confirmed OK ticket who comes on time cannot perhaps be denied boarding,” it said.

When Singh was denied boarding the first time,he was reassured by the airlines to arrange for him the take the next possible flight as soon as possible. But it failed to do so.

“When an assurance was given to Singh that he would be sent to Athens on March 4,2000,the airlines ought to have made all efforts to ensure that there was absolutely no lacuna whatsoever left for pushing him into the flight,” the Commission said.

The airlines contended it had tried to facilitate re-entry of Singh into Greece by approaching the Greek embassy in Delhi and the authorities in Athens.

But the Commission said the plea of follow-up action of the airlines would not mitigate the deficiency in service,which had “immensely damaged the interest” of Singh.

“In the present case,the mental agony,harassment,frustration,loss of job and reputation are too obvious to be ignored,” the Commission said.

To blame Singh that he ought to have booked his ticket earlier even though his re-entry permit was valid until March 6,2000 was “preposterous”,it said.

The complainant approached the Jalandhar District Forum in 2003 seeking Rs 18.80 lakh compensation from the airlines but was awarded Rs five lakh compensation,which was upheld by the Punjab State Consumer Commission.

The airlines challenged the award in the apex consumer body,which dismissed the revision petition holding the State Commission order as justified.