BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM AT BANGALORE URBAN

 25^th DAY OF FEBRUARY 2016

O R D E R

SRI. P.V SINGRI, PRESIDENT

One Miss.Vanitha N, has filed this complaint through her father and her GPA holder U/s.12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the Opposite Parties (herein after referred as OPs) with a prayer to direct the OPs to apologize for all the disrespect meted out her and members of her family to make up for the mistake by refunding the full ticket amount and Rs.70,000/- towards physical strain and mental agony etc., with cost of litigation.

2. The brief averments made in the complaint are as under:

The complainant is studying at Aston University, Birmingham and she needed to travel from Birmingham to Bangalore oftenly.  During relevant period of this case, her second term examination were in progress at which time she received a message stating that her father has suffered a heart attack and she decided to come out to Bangalore to care of her father and started making arrangements for her journey to Bangalore and was looking for the cheapest available tickets.  In order to save time, she choose to approach a travel agent and approached Flight center Birmingham, who booked her ‘to’ and ‘fro’ tickets in Oman Air, London to Muscat via Bangalore.  The complainant travelled to India and approached one Swetha at Oman Air Bangalore on 17.05.2014 for the possibility of rescheduling her ticket via Istanbul which was closer to Israel as she wanted to visit Jerusalem, in between.  The complainant was told that, it is not possible for the Airlines to change her tickets.  After 4 days she again requested Bangalore office of Oman Air to change her return ticket from 01^st May 2014 to 03^rd or 04^th May 2014 as she did not had a travel VISA to Muscat and she did not wish to wait at Muscat airport for 3 long days.  However, the OP-2 Oman Air, Bangalore, failed to change the journey date as requested by the complainant.  Both the Swetha as well as the DSM Menon told her to purchase Rs.66,000/- ticket for her journey on 03.05.2014 and further stated that they are not able to arrange transit Visa at Muscat.  The complainant was made to wait for more than 4 days for this answer.

The complainant even asked to arrange for a transit Visa for 3 days for which the said Swetha as well as the Menon did not obliged stating that the transit Visa is only valid for 24 hours but in reality a transit Visa issued by the Airline is valid for 72 hours with a payment of 5 Riyals by the customer.  However, the said Miss.Swetha as well as Menon were insisting the complainant to buy Rs.66,000/- ticket.  The above said officials of Oman Air, Bangalore office were forcing her and buying time so as to push the complainant to buy a higher class ticket by paying huge money.  The complainant ultimately decided to fly to London on 1^st May 2014 with the same ticket which she had bought at Birmingham and decided to wait at Muscat Airport or travel to Jordan.  The complainant reached Oman Air Counter, she was issued with a boarding pass and her luggage was booked for transfer to the flight by one Jebin Joy.  After looking at the passport and ticket of the complainant he immediately called back her luggage and tore her boarding pass and kept her engaged in conversation asking several questions till the Flight took off.  The intention of the staff of the Oman air was to force the complainant to buy Rs.66,000/- ticket and deliberately avoided her boarding Flight on 1^st May 2014.  Despite repeated pleas by the complainant the said Mr.Jebin Joy refused the complainant to board the Flight on 1^st May 2014 even when the complainant requested the said official to change her ticket to 03^rd or 04^th May 2014.  He asked her to get back to Oman Air Office.  When the complainant insisted to meet the Manager one Rupesh met her and he repeated whatever Menon had said and even he showed obscene actions at her with his hands and even shouted at her and her father with dis-respect and behaved rudely.  The intention of the OPs in avoiding the complainant from travelling on 1^st May 2014 was only force her to buy a ticket of higher class of Rs.66,000/-.  The conduct of the OPs has inflicted enormous amount of mental agony and financial loss by flying to Birmingham through some other Airlines.

For the aforesaid reasons, the complainant prays for an order directing the OPs to apologize for all the disrespect meted to her and the members of the family and to pay her a full ticket amount and also Rs.70,000/- towards deficiency in service and litigation cost of Rs.1,000/-.

3. In response to the notice, the OPs appeared through their advocate and OP-2 on their behalf and on behalf of remaining OPs filed their version contending in brief as under:

The complainant had purchased a ticket through a travel agent in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, in which her return from Bangalore to London Heathrow Airport had two days stopover in Muscat.  The booking was for the Flight WY 282/01 May and WY101/04 May from Muscat to London.  The complainant thereafter sought for changing the dates so as to avoid her long halt in Muscat as she would not get a Visa for Oman and also she changed her plans to travel to Jerusalem which was the prime reason for her to choose the long halt in Muscat.  The Bangalore station of Oman Air tried to assist the complainant, but could not materialize it as her ticket was in a lower RBD and no seats were available on 2^nd or 3^rd May, 2014 from Bangalore to London in that category of ticket.  The complainant refused to pay any additional charge for the change of dates being the difference in fare to upgrade her ticket to higher class in which seats are available.  The complainant was given the option of purchasing new ticket and requested to get the refund of the ticket she earlier purchased by presenting it through the Agent from whom she bought the ticket, as per the accepted procedure.  But she did not pay any heed to the same.

On 30^th April, 2014, the complainant approached Oman Air Reservation Officer at Bangalore and the counter staff once again explained the above position and advised the options and specifically advised her that without a valid Visa of Sultanate of Oman, she cannot stay in Muscat for the halt of more than 48 hours and permitting her to carriage without Visa is illegal on the part of the Airline.  The complainant once again did not choose to respond to the same.  The complainant surprisingly without heeding the above advice had chosen to present herself in the Oman Air Check-in-counter on 1^st May 2014 for travel in the above ticket without any valid visa for her halt in Muscat.  She was denied the boarding pass in bonafide discharge of duty by the counter staff.  The complainant filed a complaint before the Bangalore Airport Police against the check-in/ground handling agents.  The Police official after listening both sides advised the complainant to take up the matter with her travel agent and stated that Oman Air cannot be faulted for not permitting her to travel.  The round trip ticket was issued to the complainant by the travel agent, Flight Centre, Birmingham, UK to travel from LHR to BLR, under a very restricted RBD, with return Flight details as WY282/01MAY and WY101/04MAY.  The complainant was initially planning on a trip to Jerusalem and had insisted on a long layover in Muscat, hoping that she would be able to make arrangements to travel to Jerusalem from Muscat.  It is understood that the Agent in London who issued the above ticket to the complainant had already informed her of the complication with this connection, as is clear from their reports.  The complainant was required to pay extra charges for change in her travel date for which she was not ready.  Any changes on tickets purchased through an Agent can be done only through his Agent.  In the entire complaint, the complainant has not raised an issue against the Agent for having sold her a ticket with long transit at Muscat.

That purchasing a ticket for Rs.66,000/- was one of the options put forward to the complainant when BLR reservations was not able to waive off the penalty charges which option was not however accepted by the complainant.  The option of a refund of her ticket through her agent in UK or changing the date of travel by paying the date change penalty and the difference in fare for the higher RBD, as seats were not available in the same RBD as her original ticket, were also offered to her, as other options.  The complainant was only made aware of the rules and regulation of her ticket by the staff who came in physical contact with her and none of the staff has been rude or offensive to the complainant or her family.  That Oman Immigration does not issue visa on arrival for Indian citizens, until and unless they are GCC residents, belonging to specific professional categories eligible for visa on arrival facility and are travelling from their respective GCC country of which they are a resident.  The complainant was stopped on 01^st May from travelling to Muscat because the staff found that she did not have a visa for Muscat nor any STPC arrangements made when her onward connection to LHR was only after two days.  The visa was mandatory and as it was not available, the complainant was not allowed to travel.

When the passengers did not travel on their booked date of travel, the ticket status changes to ‘NO-SHOW’ by default.  It is not the staff who changes the ticket status.  As per Article 13.1.1 of Oman Air’s conditions of Carriage, it is the responsibility of the passenger to have and arrange for all the valid travel documents prior to their travel.  In failing to arrange her own travel documents, the complainant was accordingly the author of her own misfortune and moreover justifiably denied boarding in BLR.  As claimed by the complainant, the Bangalore office of Oman Air did not made her wait for 4 days for any response as alleged by her.  The complainant had contacted CRD on 28^th April and her date of travel was 1^st May.  She had made numerous phone calls and each time she was informed that any information could be given to her only after an update was received from LHR/BLR.  By 30^th April she was given all the options to change her travel plans, based on the information provided by CM and DSM UK and DSM BLR.  She was also informed about the transit Visa facilities after having consulted MCT station, which was checked with Oman Immigration.  Her demand was to waive off all the penalties on her ticket to be reissued in such a manner to avoid the long layover in Muscat.  She was clearly informed on 2 days before her travel date of 01^st May that she would not be able to buy a Visa on arrival at MCT.  She was told that the Visa has to be either pre arranged, or paid for while making her reservations so that the airline will be issued a transit Visa by the Oman Immigration when the passenger arrives.  Transit visa is not issued to any passenger by Oman Immigration.  Only the airline can arrange the transit Visa for the passengers, which is based on the gap between the connecting Flights.  It also depends on the RBD of the ticket, where the passenger will be eligible for the STPC by default.  In all other cases the visa had to be pre-arranged.  That Visa has to be arranged prior to the passenger’s travel from the point of origin.  When the complainant purchased her ticket from the agent at Birmingham, the formalities had to be explained to her by the agent, considering the long transit in MCT.  Under the conditions of the Carriage, the passengers have to make sure that they have all the required travel documents in their possession prior to their travel.  The airline is not responsible if the passenger is denied boarding or deported back to the country of origin, based on improper travel documents and all expenses have to be borne by the passenger.  Though the complainant was given all the alternative and possible options, none of the options were acceptable to her except changing her ticket free of cost.  At first she claimed that she was not aware of the long transit and later stated that she had changed her plan to go to Jerusalem.  The complainant was clearly taking a chance and a risk by travelling without proper documents and also trying to continue her journey from MCT to Jerusalem.  The airline could have clearly been fined and the complainant deported back to BLR, had the check-in agent not realized that she was not getting through-checked for the MCT/LHR flight due to the long transit period and on enquiring with the complainant found that she did not have a visa for MCT and was planning to buy one on arrival.

The complainant was not accepted on the flight because of the Immigration rules of the country where she was having the long transit stay and because she was without proper visa or STPC arrangements being made for the stay.  The staff of the OP genuinely wanted to help the complainant and called the ASM and reservations for assistance in this matter.  The complainant was very well aware of the options she had prior to the date of her travel.  At no point of time the staff bully her or use offensive language or gave false assurances as alleged by her.  No deficiency in service has been made out by the complainant and the OPs are not responsible for the situation which the complainant faced.  Therefore, the complainant is not entitled for any relief or compensation as claimed by her.

For the aforesaid reasons, the OPs pray for dismissal of the complaint.   

4. The points that arise for our determination in this case are as under:

5. After the version was filed, the complainant was called upon to file her evidence by way of affidavit.  Accordingly, her father and GPA holder filed his affidavit evidence in lieu of oral evidence.  OPs also filed affidavit evidence of their Manager at Bangalore office in support of the averments made in the version.  The complainant sought certain clarifications by way of interrogatories which have been replied by the OPs.  Both the parties submitted their written submissions and placed reliance on various documents.

6. Perused the allegations made in the complaint, averments made in the version, sworn testimony of both parties, written submissions, various documents placed on record and other materials placed before us.

7. Our answer to the above points are as under:

REASONS

8. Admittedly, the complainant approached a travel agent at Flight Centre, Birmingham in U.K for purchasing Air Tickets for her journey to Bangalore and back to London.  The complainant was looking for cheap tickets and initially she planned to book tickets through Emirates London-Dubai-Bangalore route.  However, before she could pay money for the said tickets, it was changed to Oman Air London-Muscat-Bangalore and having no other option she accepted the said tickets which were the next cheapest.  As stated by the complainant, initially she opted Emirates could break at Dubai so as to enable to travel to Jerusalem, however with the ticket via Muscat for travel to Jerusalem seemed impossible.  Thereafter, the complainant travelled to India and her return journey was 1^st May 2014 as scheduled through Oman Airways via Muscat with layover of 2 days at Muscat.  The complainant claims that, she did not have VISA to travel to Muscat and she could not wait at Muscat Airport for 3 long days.  She requested the OPs as to whether they could make changes in her travel plan without long layover at Muscat.  The Bangalore office of the OPs has given her all the options as mentioned in their version.

9. The OPs have informed the complainant that her ticket was issued in ‘L’ class and she is required to pay charges and fares for other classes and for a new ticket.  They have also given her particulars about the extra amount she is required to pay for new ticket including the refund amount she gets by cancelling her existing tickets.

10. The OPs have given the exact amount to be paid towards ‘B’ Class fare for 3^rd May, ‘T’ class fare for 9^th May, ‘Q’ class fare for 9^th May and also the price for a new ticket quoted at BLR reservation.  It appears from the allegations made in the complaint that, the complainant was not ready to bear any extra charges, for the change in her travelling plans and was insisting for the change in the travelling plans free of cost.  The complainant alleges that, the OP deliberately did not help her in getting her change in her travelling plan with a deliberate intention to force her to by a expensive ticket of Rs.66,000/-.  However, this allegation of the complainant appears to be without any basis from the information furnished by the OPs in their version.  The complainant neither filed her rejoinder nor denied the averments made in the version regarding the extra charges she was to bear for change in her travelling plans subsequent to 1^st May so as to avoid long layover at Muscat.  It appears to us that, the complainant agreed for 3 long days wait at Muscat on her return journey with a idea in her mind to make a trip to Jerusalem during the said period.  However, when she was advised about the risk involved in making such trip she appears to have changed her mind and decided to fly back to London without much waiting time at Muscat.  However, since the complainant was not ready to pay any extra amount for change of flying dates she was made to continue with her old ticket.

11. The complainant alleges that, when she reported at Oman Air counter on 1^st May 2014 though she was issued with a boarding pass she was denied to fly by Mr.Jebin Joy who was in charge of the counter.  According to her, the said Jebin Joy after looking to her ticket as well as passport prevented her from boarding the Flight and unnecessarily engaged her in conversation so as to make her miss the said flight and then force her to buy a new ticket by paying Rs.66,000/-.  The OPs in their version as well as in their sworn testimony denied this allegation by the complainant.  The OPs contended that, the complainant was not allowed to board the Flight on 1^st May, since she did not had necessary travel documents i.e., valid visa to enable to her to stay for 3 days at Muscat.  The complainant in her complaint itself admitted that she requested the OPs to change her Flight date from 1^st May to 3^rd or 4^th May as she did not had a travel visa to Muscat and also she did not wish to wait at Muscat Airport for 3 long days.  This admission on the part of the complainant makes it abundantly clear the reason for her denial to board the Flight on 1^st May 2014.  Since the complainant did not had a valid travel visa to Muscat the concerned staff of OPs have stopped her from boarding the Flight.  Admittedly, the Indian Citizens are not entitled for Visa on arrival in Sultanate of Oman.  However, the Oman Immigration authorities did issue Visa on arrival for Indian citizens, if they are GCC residents belonging to specific professional categories eligible for visa on arrival and are travelling from their respective GCC country of which they are residents.  Admittedly, the complainant does not fall under the special category as mentioned above to entail her visa on arrival at Muscat Airport.  Moreover, the complainant had also not made STPC arrangements at the time of booking the ticket at Birmingham.  Since, the complainant did not have a valid visa she was not permitted to travel to Muscat by the OPs on 1^st May.

12. The complainant also did not deny that as per Article 13.1.1 of Oman Air’s Conditions of Carriage, it is the responsibility of the passenger to have and arrange for all the valid travel documents prior to their travel.  Further, the complainant did not deny that in failing to arrange her own travel documents, she would not be permitted to land in Muscat and would deported back to country of her origin.  Admittedly, the OP Airlines will be held responsible for carrying a passenger to Muscat without proper travel documents.  Therefore, we do not find any fault with the OPs in denying the complainant boarding her Flight on 1^st May.

13. The complainant alleges that, the OPs did not furnish her necessary information regarding change of her Flight dates and also did not assist her in getting ticket for different dates according to her convenience.  She also alleged that, the staff at the counter behaved rudely with her and her father and even made obscene gesture.  OP strongly denied this allegation.  Except the self serving statement of the complainant, there is no material on record to believe that any of the staff with OPs behaved rudely or made obscene gestures at complainant and members of her family.

14. The complainant also did not state in her complaint as well in her affidavit as to on which date she flew back to London from Bangalore and through which airline.  The OP has stated in para-12 of their version have given her option of cheap tickets for 3^rd and 9^th May.  However, the complainant for the reasons best known to her has choosen to fly back to London through some other Airline.  The complainant also not mentioned in the complaint as to whether she presented her old ticket to the agent at Birmingham for refund, as per procedure.

15. The complainant did not explain as to what made her not to obtain valid visa in advance to travel to Muscat.  As admitted by herself, she did not had valid Visa to travel to Muscat on 1^st May.  Therefore, she wanted to change her date of flight to 3^rd or 4^th of May.  The OPs cannot be blamed for the failure of the complainant in making necessary arrangements for her visa to Muscat.  Had the complainant made the request in advance the OP themselves would have arranged necessary Visa for her stay at Muscat for 3 days as required under her return ticket.  Therefore, we are not able to find fault with the OPs in not providing visa to complainant for her transit stay at Muscat.

The complainant has utterly failed to make out any deficiency in service on the part of the OPs.  We also do not find any reasons for OPs either in harassing or causing inconvenience to the complainant since she had a valid return ticket.  In view of the discussions made above, we are of the opinion that the complainant is not entitled for any of the reliefs claimed against the OPs.

16. The order could not be passed within the stipulated time due to heavy pendency.

17. In the result, we proceed to pass the following:  

  O R D E R

The complaint filed by the complainant U/s.12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is dismissed.  Parties to bear their own costs.

Furnish free copy of this order to both the parties.

(Dictated to the Stenographer, got it transcribed and corrected, pronounced in the Forum on this 25^th day of February 2016)

MEMBER                            MEMBER                    PRESIDENT

Vln* 

Witnesses examined on behalf of the complainant dated 06.11.2014.

1. Sri.M.Nagaratnam.

Documents produced by the complainant:

Witnesses examined on behalf of the Opposite parties dated 08.01.2015.

1. Sri.Munir Moosa.  

Document produced by the Opposite parties. - Nil

MEMBER                            MEMBER                    PRESIDENT

Vln*