[Shilpaks]

Now, get Rs 10K for flight delays  

New Delhi, pti:

In a relief to passengers who are left stranded at airports owing to flight cancellation and delays, the State Consumer Commission has held that airlines operating from Delhi will have to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 each to domestic travellers if the delay exceeded two hours...

  

In a relief to passengers who are left stranded at airports owing to flight cancellation and delays, the State Consumer Commission has held that airlines operating from Delhi will have to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 each to domestic travellers if the delay exceeded two hours.

“Every airline operating from Delhi shall pay a minimum compensation of Rs 10,000 to domestic passengers in case there is delay in departure and arrival of two hours or more than the schedule time,” Justice J D Kapoor, President of the Commission, said in a common order. The panel also ordered that affected passengers of international flights would be paid Rs 20,000 each as compensation. Late running, cancellation of flights, offloading of consumers with confirmed status of ticket etc, Justice Kapoor said, cause “enormous mental agony and physical discomfort which are not assessable in terms of money”.

The Commission, however, observed that the delays due to inclement weather and tyre bursts did not entitle passengers to get compensation.
  

The order came on an appeal filed by Alliance Air Limited against the verdict of a District Consumer Forum which had asked it to pay Rs 6,000 as compensation to one Daljit Singh Nirman who could not attend the meeting at Jammu as his flight got delayed by six hours at the Delhi airport. Nirman’s flight to Jammu on September 26, 1999 was scheduled to leave Delhi at 10.10 am.

On his arrival at the airport, he was informed that the flight would leave two hours after the schedule time whereas it finally took off after about six hours. He approached the forum. The Commission issued a general order binding all airlines operating from Delhi to compensate their passengers for flight delays.

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