Haryana

Karnal

CC/325/2017

Chaman Lal Sardana - Complainant(s)

Versus

Make My Trip Pvt. Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

Hemant Tayal

03 Oct 2018

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM KARNAL.

 

                                                      Complaint No.325 of 2017

                                                      Date of instt. 27.09.2017

                                                      Date of decision 03.10.2018

 

Chaman Lal Sardana son of Shri Kundan Lal Sardana resident of House no.309, Sector-13 Extn. , Urban Estate Karnal.

                                                                                                                                                                        …….Complainant.      

                                                Versus

 

Make My Trip Pvt. Ltd., DLF Building no.5, Tower-C, DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase, Sector-25, Gurugram, Haryana-122002.

 

                                                                        …..Opposite Party.

 

           Complaint u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.            

 

Before   Sh. Jaswant Singh……President.

      Sh. Vineet Kaushik………Member

             

 

 Present   Shri Hemant Tayal Advocate for complainant.

                Shri Pankaj Malhotra Advocate for OP.

               

ORDER:   

                (JASWANT SINGH, PRESIDENT)                

 

                        This complaint has been filed by the complainant u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 on the averments that OP is online travel service provider. Complainant booked three return tickets through the OP for himself, his son Mr. Romit Sardana and his wife Smt. Surjit Kaur for Tortanto (Canada) on 5^th of July, 2017 for an amount of Rs.2,48,564/- and the booking confirmation of the same is MN7301619662888 of Canada. The abovesaid tickets were booked for air Canada Flight departing from New Delhi reaching to Tronto via Frankfurt and the confirmation ticket received by the complainant clearly depicted the flight to be of Air Canada bearing no.AC9353 departing from New Delhi on 11.07.2017 at 2.45 a.m.  On 10^th July, 2017 complainant tried to webcheck-in above stated ticket on Air Canada site through the PNR no.NHAA6V and discovered himself and subsequently he found that there he was no such reservation with air Canada for the above stated date and time on the contrary, he was booked with Luftansa Airlines Departing at the same time on the same date vide Flight no.LH0761. No information regarding the abovementioned change was ever provided to the complainant. It is alleged that complainant has no option to change or cancel the abovesaid tickets since he came to know about it himself 24 hours prior to date of departure. Complainant and his wife is a wheel chair passenger and if he would have not discovered by himself the above mentioned change in the flight then he could have even missed his flight, since it was not with Air Canada Airlines which was depicted on the e-tickets sent by the OP. On returning to India on 31^st July, 2017 the complainant contacted the OP and raise his grievance then OP’s customer care offered just to wave off the connivance charges of Rs.1497/-. It is further alleged that till date OP’s official website clearly shows that the departure flight from New Delhi of the complainant was with Air Canada on the contrary the complainant was boarded with Luftansa Airlines. It clearly reveals that the OP kept the complainant mis-informed and mis-represented facts to them. Due to this act and conduct of the OP complainant suffered mental tension, agony and harassment. In this way there was deficiency in service on the part of the OP. Hence complainant filed the present complaint.

2.             Notice of the complaint was given to the OP, who appeared and filed written version stating therein that OP is a travel service provider and facilitates booking services for its customer. It is further stated that the complainant booked the Air tickets in question through Online Portal of the OP and before conformation the complainant entered into an agreement between the User and the OP. As per the agreement, under the column of ‘Responsibilities of User Vis-à-vis the Agreement, which specifically talk about the responsibilities on the part of both the parties to the agreement. It is further stated that as per terms of User Agreement of the OP that was agreed to by the complainant at the time of booking, it clearly set out that under exceptional circumstances where the service operators like the airlines, hotels, the respective transportation providers or concerns are unable to honour the confirmed booking due to various reasons like climatic conditions, labour unrest, insolvency, technical issues, route and flight cancellations etc. then under such circumstances, the OP, if notified in advance, shall make best endeavors to provide similar alternative.  It is further stated that the role of the OP in providing travel services is limited only to the extent of providing smooth, convenient and efficient online travel booking inter-face to its customers, and is in no manner responsible for any unexpected modifications in the Flight Schedule of the customers due to cancellation, delay etc. Hence there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP.

3.             Complainant tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.CA and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C7 and closed the evidence on 17.04.2018.

4.             On the other hand OP tendered into evidence affidavit of Ekank Mahra Ex.O1 and document Ex.O2 and closed the evidence on 6.7.2018.

5.             We have heard the learned counsel for both the parties and perused the case file carefully and have also gone through the evidence led by the parties.

6.             There is no dispute between the parties that complainant have booked online Air Tickets through the website of OP on 05.07.2017 for an amount of Rs.2,48,564/- against which the OP provided the complainant with confirmed Air Tickets of Air Canada Flight departing from New Delhi reaching to Toronto via Frankurt on 11.07.2017 at about 2.30 a.m. and complainant also have completed his journey.

7.             The grievance of the complainant is that on 10.07.2017, when the complainant tried to Webcheck-in above stated ticket on Air Canada website through the PNR no.NHAA6V, he found that there was no such booking with Air Canada, on contrary the complainant was booked with Luftansa Airlines. The learned counsel for complainant argued that no information regarding the change of the above flight was given to him by the OP. If this fact was not checked by the complainant himself then he must have missed the flight. At the time of booking the tickets, the complainant has checked the best flight of his own and found that Air Canada is one of the best flights available, so he booked the same. If the complainant was known that he alongwith his family have to travel through so called Luftansa Airlines flight, then he have never booked the said flight. The complainant and his wife, both are wheel chair passengers. The OP misinformed and mis-represented the facts to the complainant and it is a clear deficiency of service on the part of the OP. Thus, complainant suffered a lot of mental agony, mental harassment and humiliation and claimed for Rs.4,00,000/- on account of mental agony, mental torture, mental harassment and humiliation and deficiency in service alongwith litigation expenses of Rs.55,000/-.

8.             On the other hand, the learned counsel for OP argued that the complainant has filed frivolous complaint against the OP without any basis and has presented a concocted and false story. The complainant completed his journey joyfully without any deficiency of service on the part of the OP. The OP is a travel service provider and role of OP in providing travel services is limited only to the extent of providing smooth, convenient and efficient online travel booking inter-face to its customers, and is in no manner responsible for any unexpected modifications in the flight schedule of the customers due to cancellation, delay etc. Before confirmation, the complainant entered into user agreement with OP. As per the terms of the Agreement, under exceptional circumstances where the service operators like the airlines, hotels, the respective transportation or concern are unable to honour the confirmed booking due to various reasons like climatic conditions, labour unrest, insolvency and technical issues, route and flight cancellation etc. and request for dismiss the complaint.

9.             From the pleadings and evidence of the parties, it is clear that there is no dispute regarding booking of air tickets of Air Canada Flight by the OP. The complainant completed his journey through another flight, which is not in his knowledge prior to Webcheck-in on 10.07.2017. The OP failed to disclose the reason as to why the flight of the complainant was changed. No intimation in regard to change the flight to the complainant was given by the OP. The OP charged the expenses of the Air Canada flight and the complainant alongwith his family travelled to the destination from the changed airlines, which was not booked by the complainant. As per the terms of the agreement, under exceptional circumstances where the service operators like the airlines, hotels, respective transportation or concerns are unable to honour the confirmed booking due to various reasons like climatic conditions, labour unrest, insolvency and technical issues, route and flight cancellation etc. The OP failed to show any condition regarding change of the flight, by giving intimation to the complainant. Thus, it clearly shows that OP is deficient in providing services to the complainant.

10.           Thus, as a sequel to the foregoing discussion, we accept the present complaint and direct the OP to pay Rs.50,000/- to the complainant for causing mental agony and physical harassment. We further direct the OP to pay Rs.5500/- to the complainant towards litigation expense. This order shall be complied within 30 days from the receipt of copy of this order failing which, the complainant shall be entitled interest @ 9% per annum from the date of order till its realization. The parties concerned be communicated of the order accordingly and the file be consigned to the record room after due compliance.

Announced

Dated: 03.10.2018

                                                                        President,

                                                           District Consumer Disputes

                                                           Redressal Forum, Karnal.

 

 

                     (Vineet Kaushik)     

                        Member