Passenger misses flight due to early departure, GoAir asked to shell out Rs 25000
One would be amazed to know that an airline will have to pay compensation to a passenger not for flying late but for flying before the schedule time. This has happened in actual with domestic air carrier GoAir, which has been told by a consumer forum to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to a flier who missed his flight because the plane took off much before the departure time.
Khurshid Ahmed, who lives in Delhi, had booked two tickets on a GoAir flight from
Patna to Delhi. On the day of journey, he arrived on time to the airport. But he was surprised when he was told that the flight had already taken off. When he confronted the Go Air staff present at the airport and tried to know the reasons for the early departure of his flight, there was no appropriate response.
Moreover, he was made to wait at the airport for the next 24-hours to get the next flight to Delhi. Ahmed, who was with his wife, had neither been provided accommodation at any hotel nor any food by the airlines.
After his arrival in Delhi, Ahmed filed a complaint against the airlines at South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum and demanded compensation. In his complaint, he mentioned that the flight, scheduled to depart at 5.55pm on December 1, 2010, took off at 3.10 pm, more than two hours before time and that he had not been informed about the change in timing.
The consumer forum after going through the case found that he and his family had to actually spent two days in their journey from Patna to Delhi because of the fault of the airline. The forum also took notice of the gross deficiency in service provided by the airline.
As no one appeared on behalf of the airline, the forum proceeded against them ex-parte and directed Go Air to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation, including litigation charges to the complainant.
