Chandigarh

DF-I

CC/299/2020

Sanjeev Rana - Complainant(s)

Versus

M/s Air India Express (Air India Ltd.) - Opp.Party(s)

Gurpreet Singh & Navdeep Singh

09 Aug 2023

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION-I,

U.T. CHANDIGARH

 

                    

Consumer Complaint No.	:	CC/299/2020
Date of Institution	:	19/08/2020
Date of Decision	:	09/08/2023

 

Sanjeev Rana S/o Sh.Ranjeet Singh Rana, R/o H.No.2329, Sector 44-C, Chandigarh.

… Complainant

V E R S U S

1. M/s Air India Express (Air India Ltd.), Regd. Office at First Floor, Old operations Building, Air India Complex Old Airport, Santa Cruz, (East) Mumbai 400029 India. (Through its Managing Director).
2. M/s Air India Express (Air India Ltd.) SCO 162-164, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh U.T. (Through its Managing Director).
3. Sh.Pardeep Singh Kharola, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India Ltd., 2^nd Floor Airlines House, 113 Gurdwara Road New Delhi-110001.

… Opposite Parties

CORAM :	PAWANJIT SINGH	PRESIDENT
	SURJEET KAUR	MEMBER

 

                                                

ARGUED BY	:	None for Complainant.
	:	Sh.Daksh Prem Azad, Counsel for OPs.

Per Surjeet kaur, Member

1.      Averments are that the complainant had planned to visit Dubai for enjoying holidays alongwith his friend and booked his ticket on 17.1.2019 to fly in Aircraft: 7381. The departure for Dubai was on 26.01.2019, from Amritsar Airport at 3-10 PM and arrival was at 5-30 PM at Dubai on the same day. The complainant had paid Rs.22,623.88 for his travelling and return ticket. The complainant hired a taxi from Chandigarh to Amritsar and reached airport at about 1 PM. On the airport the complainant came to know that the flight is delayed and will fly at 5 PM. Thereafter, again on enquiry the complainant was told that the flight is delayed and shall take off at 9 PM. Till 9 PM no aircraft was available at the terminal and up to 10-30 PM the boarding was also not done. It is also submitted that not even a single official of OP attended the passengers and the complainant and also didn’t provided lunch, dinner and stay in hotel from 1 PM to 9 PM. The air plane left for journey at about 11:30 PM and landed Dubai airport at about 3:30 AM on 27.1.2019. Due to the late departure of the flight of OP, the complainant had to reschedule his whole trip and the complainant had to extend his tickets for 2 days on 29.01.2019 for which staff of the OP charged Rs.5500/- from the complainant.

         On 2.2.2019 the complainant returned to India and reached Dubai airport at 8:20 AM as the flight was scheduled to take off at 9:55 AM. But the employees of OP closed the ticket window at 8:30 AM and despite the repeated requests of the complainant to the employees of OP, he was not allowed to board the flight. During this period the complainant suffered a lot of mental agony and harassment from the OP. The complainant sent a legal notice to the OP also replied to the legal notice (Ex.P-4 to P-6). Hence, is the present consumer complaint.

2.     OPs contested the consumer complaint, filed their written reply and stated that there was a revision in departure time of flight IX-191 from Amritsar, from 15:10hrs to 17:50hrs due to technical reasons and this information was disseminated to all passengers booked on the flight, including the complainant and he was successfully informed at early morning on 26.01.2019 at 4:22hrs by SMS and by email. Subsequently the departure time from Amritsar of IX-191 was further revised from 17:50hrs to 20:55hrs. This information was again disseminated to all passengers booked on the flight, the complainant was successfully informed by SMS and by email. It is also submitted that all the passengers were given snacks alongwith other things that were ordered by the passengers by Air India and were properly taken care of (Ex.P-1). It is further submitted that as the flight was supposed to take off at 9:55 AM, the counter closing time was 8:55 AM. The complainant may have reached the airport at 8:20 AM but did not reach the counter on or before 8:55 AM as per our records and this is the only reason why the complainant could not board the flight.  Denying all other allegations made in the complaint a prayer for dismissal of the complaint has been made.
3.     Rejoinder on behalf of complainant not filed despite of the opportunity given. Hence opportunity to file rejoinder was closed vide order dated 10.01.2023 by order of this Commission.
4.     Parties led evidence by way of affidavits and documents.
5.     We have heard the learned counsel for the OPs and gone through the record of the case.
6.     The entire complaint is based upon the delay of the flight in question. As per the complainant, changes made in the timings of the flight was not informed to him. Resultantly, he rescheduled his whole trip and extended the same for two more days for which he had to shell out an additional amount of Rs.5500/-. It has also been alleged that while returning, OPs did not allow him to board the flight due to the reasons best known to them. Therefore, he had to face humiliation and harassment.
7.     After going through the documents on record, it is mentioned in the para No.5 of the reply of the OP that the complainant was successfully informed by SMS at 12:41hrs and by email at 11:56hrs on 26.01.2019 regarding the change in the time of the flight. In our opinion when the SMS alongwith email was duly received by the complainant, it was his choice to continue with the same booking or to reschedule his journey. Even the complainant was given ample opportunity to file rejoinder to rebut the reply of OP vide order dated 03.03.2022 23.06.2022, 27.10.2022, but the complainant himself did not come forward to refute the defence taken by OPs. In the absence of any cogent evidence, the present consumer complaint, being devoid of any merit, is hereby dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own costs. 
8.     Pending miscellaneous application, if any, also stands disposed of.
9.     Certified copies of this order be sent to the parties free of charge. The file be consigned.

			Sd/-
09/08/2023			[Pawanjit Singh]
Ls			President
			Sd/-
			[Surjeet Kaur]
			Member