Consumer Court raps Air India, orders compensation for doctor harassed over refund
Sangrur: Granting relief to a retired assistant civil surgeon, who was forced to buy fresh air tickets after testing positive for COVID-19 during his US trip in January 2022, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Sangrur, recently directed Air India to issue a complete refund of the 1,370 dollars spent on the San Francisco to Delhi tickets.
Further, terming the Air India guilty of deficiency in service and unfair trade practices, the consumer court has also directed the airline to pay Rs 10,000 to the doctor for harassment and causing mental agony and Rs 10,000 for litigation costs.
The history of the case goes back to 2022 when the concerned doctor along with his wife booked return flight tickets between Delhi and San Francisco via online portal MakeMyTrip for Rs 1,54,773. Consequently, the couple was set to return on January 3, 2022.
As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the complainant doctor said that before their return flight, he underwent a mandatory COVID-19 test and tested positive on January 1, 2022. Immediately, the couple informed about the same to MakeMyTrip and requested the flights to be rescheduled as per the government's COVID-19 policy. However, allegedly, despite repeated correspondence, the flights were not rescheduled.
The complainant claimed that this was a violation of the COVID-19 instructions and a serious offence under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Since the doctor did not get any response regarding the rescheduling, the couple was forced to purchase new tickets on January 10, 2022, from San Francisco to Delhi. For this, they had to pay $1,370.
After returning to India on January 13, 2022, they requested a refund for the original tickets that were declined by Air India.
Consequently, the complainant doctor filed a consumer complaint against both Air India and MakeMyTrip. Even though the consumer court exempted MakeMyTrip from any liability, it held Air India deficient in service. Regarding MakeMyTrip, the Commission accepted its argument that its role was limited to acting as a "facilitator" for providing confirmed tickets and that its obligations were discharged once the tickets were provided.
Since no one appeared or responded from Air India's side, the Commission proceeded ex parte and stated that the evidence produced by the complainant remained unrebutted. Accordingly, the Commission ordered Air India to refund $1,370 paid for the fresh air tickets, along with interest at 7% per annum from the filing of the complaint till realisation.
Further, the airline was directed to pay Rs 10,000 on account of mental pain, agony and harassment caused to the couple, and another Rs 10,000 for litigation expenses within 60 days from the receipt of a copy of this order.
