Kingfisher directed to pay Rs 30,000 to couple

Kingfisher Airline’s pocket will soon be lighter by Rs 30,000. Reason: A Delhi consumer court has ordered it to compensate a couple whose holiday plans for south Goa were ruined due to its flawed flight schedule.

Kingfisher Airline’s pocket will soon be lighter by Rs 30,000. Reason: A Delhi consumer court has ordered it to compensate a couple whose holiday plans for south Goa were ruined due to its flawed flight schedule.

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Jagmohan Singh had filed a complaint, stating that he had planned a vacation to Goa with his wife in October 2008, but his plans were ruined as their flight took off ahead of the schedule without any prior information. The court then observed that the airline has caused “inconvenience and anxiety” to the couple.

Due to this, Singh and his wife were forced to abandon their vacation, the complainant had said. Moreover, he missed a crucial meeting at Hotel Radisson with the director of his client’s company, who had sought his services in a case pending in the National Consumer Commission.

Singh explained that the flight was scheduled to fly from Delhi at 12.45pm on October 31. Instead, it took off at 10.50am, about two hours early. The flight returned ahead of its schedule too. This change was not communicated to the couple in advance. They got to know about it when they checked the status of their tickets.

Kingfisher Airlines accepted their error and that they had exchanged mails with the complainant, apologising for it.

The court held, “In view of the admission of the OP (Kingfisher Airlines) to the inconvenience and disappointment of the complainant at the hands of (the) airlines, we determine the compensation for deficiency of service.”

The court also observed that the exchanged emails clearly established “the messing up of the whole trip of the complainant”.