2 students to get ₹35k relief for air ticket error

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2 students to get ₹35k relief for air ticket error

Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:07.02.2021

A commercial airline has been ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 35,000 and refund the ticket fares of two students who were not allowed to board a scheduled flight to Bengaluru to attend an academic competition due to a technical glitch. The duo was forced to book tickets on another flight by paying extra money.

On February 19, 2019, Bhavana and Ananya Sharma were to travel from Delhi to Bengaluru to attend a moot court competition the next day. Bhavana’s father Shri Harsha had pre-booked tickets for them by paying Rs 11,046 via his credit card. But the airline staff didn’t allow them to board, claiming the payment wasn’t complete. The girls tried to explain that the tickets mentioned travel status as ‘confirmed’ as the money had been deducted, but in vain. They had to shell out Rs 29,420 to book another flight the same night.

Shri Harsha contacted IndiGo, which ultimately refunded Rs 11,046, stating there was a technical glitch in the ticketing procedure. But when the issue of the girls being forced to buy new tickets was raised, there was no response from the airline staff. Feeling cheated, Harsha approached the Bengaluru rural and urban 1st additional district consumer disputes redressal forum on September 17, 2019 with a complaint against InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, operator of IndiGo.

IndiGo’s lawyer argued the complainant was attempting to make unlawful gains. He said a technical error which appears to have taken place in the complainant’s payment gateway is not in the airline’s control, and the money deducted for the initial tickets had been refunded.

Judges of the forum questioned the airline over issuing tickets with a ‘confirmed’ status. They noted there was a correspondence from the airline, acknowledging the glitch due to which the credited amount wasn’t reflecting in the system.

In their December 9, 2020 verdict, the judges rapped IndiGo for deficiency in service. They ordered InterGlobe Aviation Ltd to pay Rs 25,000 to Harsha apart from Rs 10,000 for litigation expenses. The airline was told to refund the ticket cost of Rs 18,374 after deducting the earlier refunded amount.