The Raipur District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a private carrier to pay Rs 35,000 in compensation and litigation costs to a passenger who was turned away from her flight despite possessing a valid boarding pass.
In an order pronounced on September 21, a three-member bench comprising Commission President Dakeshwar Prasad Sharma and members Nirupma Pradhan and Anil Kumar Agnihotri held that the airline failed to demonstrate it had properly alerted the passenger to reach the gate, ruling that the denial of boarding constituted a deficiency in service and an unfair trade practice.
The tribunal awarded the passenger Rs 25,000 in compensation for financial and mental distress, alongside Rs 10,000 to cover her legal expenses.
Absence Of Notice Discredits Airline Defense
The carrier contested the complaint by arguing that the passenger was at fault for failing to report to the boarding gate within the required timeframe under its conditions of carriage. According to the airline’s internal documentation, the woman obtained her boarding pass at 2:42 pm but arrived at the gate at 3:45 pm, after the aircraft had already departed, leading the carrier to register her as a no-show.
The commission dismissed this defense, noting that the documents submitted by the airline failed to specify the method or medium used to inform the passenger to report for boarding. The bench emphasized that the records contained no indication of telephone calls placed to her contact number, nor did they record her phone details. It observed that because the passenger had reached the airport on schedule and completed check-in, there was no plausible reason for her not to proceed to the designated gate had she been notified.
Journey Disrupted Over Bengaluru Departure
The dispute stems from an incident on August 30, 2015, involving a scheduled journey from Bengaluru to Raipur. The passenger had purchased her ticket for Rs 5,929 through an online travel web portal and arrived at Bengaluru airport around 1:30 pm.
After completing check-in and obtaining her boarding pass, the passenger remained inside the airport premises until roughly 4:00 pm but was barred from entering the aircraft. She submitted that airline personnel behaved improperly, declined to arrange alternate travel back to Raipur, and caused her to miss an important business engagement. She subsequently filed a complaint before the consumer forum seeking Rs 1 lakh in damages.
Intermediaries Cleared Of Responsibility
The consumer forum absolved both the web booking portal and the airport terminal manager of any liability in the matter.
The booking portal maintained that its responsibility was restricted to issuing the electronic ticket, after which all airport interactions rested solely between the passenger and aviation authorities. The bench agreed, finding that neither the booking intermediary nor the terminal administration held any operational authority over the airline’s decision to deny boarding.
