Three passengers who complained about mosquitoes in an IndiGo flight from Delhi in April this year will be paid ₹40,000 each, a consumer disputes forum in Amritsar has said in its ruling. The forum took note of the complaint filed by three city lawyers that the airline hadn’t acted on their complaints during the flight.
IndiGo, in its submission to the forum had said that they took all reasonable care to avoid such instances but “the entry of insects or flies cannot be completely guarded against”.
But the consumer forum did not find this argument satisfactory.
This amounts to “gross deficiency in service” and unfair trade practice that caused “mental agony and harassment” to its three customers, Anoop Sharma and Rachna Arora of Amristsar’s consumer forum said in their ruling.
Plus, the forum said, the airline and Airports Authority of India, or AAI, will have to deposit ₹15,000 in its consumer legal aid account.
Lawyer Deepinder Singh, who filed the complainant along with co-passengers Sukhandeep Singh and Updip Singh, said they had spotted the mosquitoes as soon as they entered the aircraft.
“We boarded the Indigo plane from T2 Terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. While entering the aircraft, we spotted a number of mosquitoes. When we complained to the staff, they showed helplessness. Instead of taking any remedial measures, they said it was a minor issue and flies or mosquitoes inside the flight were a routine affair. They said fumigation of the plane is not possible every time it takes off,” Deepinder Singh recalled.
{{/usCountry}}“We boarded the Indigo plane from T2 Terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. While entering the aircraft, we spotted a number of mosquitoes. When we complained to the staff, they showed helplessness. Instead of taking any remedial measures, they said it was a minor issue and flies or mosquitoes inside the flight were a routine affair. They said fumigation of the plane is not possible every time it takes off,” Deepinder Singh recalled.
{{/usCountry}}But they quickly wrote an email to the airline’s customer care cell with their complaint.
“After reaching Amritsar, we, along with other passengers, complained to the airport authority, but nobody took cognisance,” he said.
The lawyer said the airport authority was also treated as the service provider in this case because airlines charge an airport fee which is part of the air fare.