1.      All these revision petitions have been filed under Sec. 21 (b) of the Consumer protection Act, 1986 against the impugned order dated 30.03.2017 passed by State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Gujarat, Ahmedabad (herein after referred to as “State Commission”) in Appeals No. 859 to 863 of 2015 whereby the appeals were partly allowed and the order of the District Forum was modified.

2.      The dispute involved in all these five revision petitions is the deficiency in service by the Airline Co.- Spice Jet Ltd, the Petitioner/OP, which caused considerable delay in departure of their flight from Ahmadabad to Goa. Therefore, the complainants suffered lot of inconvenience and harassment.

3.      The facts in all complaints are same and all these five revision petitions are being disposed of by this common order. For the convenience, the parties have been taken as per their reference in the complaints.  Brief facts are drawn from RP 1933/2017. The complainants had booked flight tickets from Ahmadabad to Goa and return by the OP – Airline Co.  for 22.03.2013 and 26.03.2013 respectively. The flight departure from Ahmadabad was on 22.03.2013 at 6.30 pm but, it took off at 10.00 pm. According to the complainants, it was deficiency in service from the OP- airline co., thus they had to wait for long period without any refreshment or food, they suffered many difficulties and faced harassment.  Being aggrieved, the complainants filed separate complaints before the District Forum, Ahmadabad.

4.      The OP- Airline Co.  filed their written versions and denied the allegations.   It was contended that as per Carriage by Air Act, 1972 , if the flight is delayed due to bad weather or circumstances beyond the control of the OP – Airlines Co., it cannot be held responsible.  Under Civil Aviation C.A.R Rules 1.4 and 1.5, certain mandatory precautions have to be taken. The aircraft maintenance engineer, before the taking off from Bangalore, had found out technical defects. It took time to repair the aircraft. There was no deficiency on the part of the OP.

5.      The District Forum, after considering the pleadings and evidence of the parties, partly allowed the complaints vide order dated 18.4.2015. It directed the OP- Airlines Co.  to pay Rs. 30,000 to the complainant for mental harassment and Rs. 5,000/- towards cost of complaint.

6.      Being aggrieved by the order of District Forum,  the OP – Airlines Co., filed five appeals (Appeal Nos. 859/2015, 860/2015, 861/2015, 862/2015 and 863/2015 ) before  the State Commission. The State Commission partly allowed the appeals and modified the order of the District Forum to the extent that the OP was liable to pay compensation of Rs. 15,000/- only for mental harassment with interest @ 9 % on the amount of compensation from the date of complaint.

7.      Being aggrieved, the complainants filed these five revision petitions on the ground that  order of  the State Commission erred in holding that the amount of Rs. 30,000/- awarded  by the District Forum to the complainants was excessive and reduced the  compensation from 30,000/- to Rs.15000/-.   According to the complainants, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the amount awarded by the District Forum was reasonable.

8.      Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the material on record.

9.      The controversy  in these revisions  is that  whether the State Commission was justified in reducing  the compensation from  Rs.30,000/- to Rs.15,000/- and was it a  just and  reasonable compensation. The State Commission made the following observations:

12.       Looking to the submissions of both the parties it is a clear fact that the time of take-off of the flight was at 18.45 Hrs. in the evening and the flight had taken off at 22.00 Hrs. and had reached Goa at 12:00 at night.  The flight had taken off from Ahmedabad at 21.45. instead of 18:45.  The opponent Spice Jet has also admitted that the flight had taken off 173 minutes late and the reason for which as per the say of the opponent Spice Jet is that it was due to the time taken for repairing the above mentioned fault.  It is also a clear fact that the complainants and other passengers were given entry in the aircraft at 21:00 and had taken their seats but after that the flight had not taken off but had taken off after about one hour that is at 21:45.  It is also a fact that during that time the complainants and other passengers had to sit in the aircraft and it seems that they were not allowed to go out.

13.       Thus, from 18:45 Hrs. to 21:00 Hrs the complainants had waited at the Airport to get entry in the flight and waited for the flight.  And after entering the flight also for about one hour they had to sit in the aircraft and during all this time the passengers were not given any snacks or tea – water, as is the say of the complainants.  The opponent Spice Jet states that they had given snacks and tea – water to the complainants and other passengers.  But there is no evidence showing this details and not affidavit of any employee on duty on the aircraft or of the airlines has been submitted.  In these circumstances the say of the complainant regarding this cannot be believed.

14.       It is a fact that for a domestic flight also the passengers have to report at least one hour earlier.  The complainants also had accordingly reached the airport on time.  Complainants had waited from 17:45 to 21:45 hrs. on the airport and aircraft for the flight to take off.  During this time it does not seem that any refreshment was given.  Further this time is dinner time.  Considering the time if they had to sit for four hours the passengers getting anxious and harassed is normal.  After sitting in the aircraft the movement also becomes limited and without any information about when the aircraft will take off and without any refreshment or tea – water if one had to sit idle then it is physical and mental harassment.  In the result  in this matter the complainants had to wait at the airport and after that in the aircraft.  And due to that it can be believed that they had suffered physical, mental harassment, anxiousness. Ld. Forum had in this regard discussed the Carriage by Air 1972 and Civil Aviation CAR rules submitted by the opponents and the conclusions made seem to be proper.  Also the judgments cited by the opponents are considered properly.  And as a result Ld. Forum has noted that due to the delay in the flight by the opponents the complainants have suffered harassment, inconvenience, is a proper conclusion.

15.       Ld. Forum for the harassment, mental agony, shock, to every complainant has ordered the opponent to pay an amount of Rs.30,000/-.  This amount of compensation awarded by the Ld. Forum considering the facts of the case and considering the harassment, inconvenience seems too high.  The amount of compensation should be reasonable and proper.  The amount of compensation should be consistent with the mental, physical harassment and inconvenience caused to the complainants the compensation should not be to give any financial benefit to the concerned party.  Looking to the facts and circumstances of the present case the type of harassment caused to the passenger consumer, the inconvenience caused due to that, the mental harassment, the time period of and the period of decided travel, amount of travel ticket etc. shall be concerned factors for deciding the compensation and considering all these factors the amount of compensation shall be granted.  In the present case the complainants had to wait for five hours as the flight was delayed.  Of which one hour they had to sit in the aircraft.  Their flight had taken off at 10:00 at night and at 12.00 at night they had reached Goa.  During this time the complainants were not given any refreshment tea – water.  The time of travel was 2 hours, and considering the amount of ticket considering all these factors the compensation of Rs.30,000/- to each seems to be too high. Due to the delay in the flight the complainants had to wait on the airport for about five hours and in the aircraft and for that Rs.30,000/- compensation has been granted.  Which is a bit too high.  The complainants being aged persons, they may be having physical problems, it can be believed that the harassment is more, but still the compensation of Rs.30,000/- is much high.

16.       Considering the facts and circumstances of the above case and the details of the harassment caused to the complainants, the time period, time period of travel, amount of ticket, etc. considering the concerned factors the compensation of Rs.15,000/- seems to the justified and proper and reasonable.  Therefore, only for the amount of compensation the interference in the judgment of the Ld. Forum seems necessary.

(paras 12 to 16 of the State Commission’s Order)

10.    Perused the terms of carriage stated by Spice Jet airline, it is reproduced below:

Flight Delays

In case the passenger has checked in on time and the Spice Jet flight is delayed from its original scheduled departure time, Spice Jet shall provide reasonable refreshments to such checked-in passengers. Following are these scenarios:

• Delay of 2 hours or more from scheduled/revised departure time for a flight having block time of up to two and a half hours.
• Delay of 3 hours or more from scheduled/revised departure time for a flight having block time of more than two and a half hours and up to five (05) hours.
• Delay of 4 hours or more from scheduled / revised departure time for flights not falling under sub-clause (a) and (b) above.

In case, any domestic flight is expected to be delayed by more than 6 hours, passenger shall be informed 24 hours prior to the original schedule departure time or Spice Jet shall offer an option of either an alternate flight within a period of 6 hours or a full refund.

In case, the expected time of departure is delayed in total by more than 24 hours from the original schedule time of departure or in case the delay is more than 6 hours for the flights scheduled to depart between 20:00 or 03:00 Hrs, hotel accommodation shall be provided wherever necessary. Spice Jet shall have absolute discretion in selection of hotels under the given circumstances and no reimbursement shall be made in this regard.

Plain reading of the terms (supra) obviously in case of delay in departure of the flight, reasonable refreshments have to be provided to the checked – in passengers. In the present case, the flight   was delayed for nearly 4 hours and thus they ought to have provided adequate refreshment during the waiting period.

11.    Air travel is not always the smooth-sailing experience everyone would like. Most   customers  have had a bad experience and frequently faced  difficulties while accessing the customer care services. The customer/traveler is met with  either unresponsive staff or just he kept on waiting with the unpleasant tunes..!     Many face difficulties while booking the tickets, the websites of airline co. allure the travelers with misleading offers, low fares/ pricing etc. but factually show sudden surge while completing the process of online ticket booking. Moreover, airlines  impose  hefty cancellation fees (about 80% amount) and refund  peanuts to the helpless customers. The consumers are harassed by such misleading advertisements, unfair and deceptive practices of airline co.

12.    When the passengers stuck waiting for the airline shall be entitled to a number of essentials and they have every Right to care for food, refreshment and accommodation. The carrier must provide the passengers with meals and refreshments during the delay as well as access to communications. The most frustrating experience of many travelers that no airline official available to give passengers correct picture of situation. Only some junior staff present in the airport who has no information from the authority. Thus, most of the air travelers are at the mercy of unsympathetic attitude of the airlines.  

13.    In the instant cases, all the complainants are senior citizens. They are resident of Vadodara and had planned a leisure trip to Goa in the month of March. To reach Ahmadabad airport within time they hired a Qualis   and left Vadodara at 3.30 pm . They arrived at the Ahmadabad airport at 5.00 pm, but the airline co.  announced that their  flight arrival was delayed by one hour, however, the flight in question was arrived at 8.45 pm at Ahmadabad airport. The helpless passengers boarded the flight at 9 pm, but again due to some technical problem in the aircraft it did not take off. The complainants and other passengers were made to sit in the aircraft. They were left without water or any refreshment or meal. The flight finally took off at 10 pm and reached Goa airport in mid night. Thus, in the instant case, just about every avid traveler has dealt with the frustration of delayed flight.

14.    The airline authorities did not even bother or sympathetic to   the passengers despite the severe inconveniences they had to face due to the delay. The senior citizens should be dealt with kids gloves. Some may be having common Geriatric health ailments      (diabetes, hypertension or dementia etc.) and on  certain medications. They left their house at 3.30 pm from Vadodara, traveled about 2 hours  by road, and thereafter waited helplessly at the airport till 10 pm.  Even after boarding the flight, they have to wait for one more hour. It was a moral responsibility and courteous approach from the airline was expected at least to  the senior citizens,  children or infants on the flight. In my view, it was the deficiency in service on the part of the OP- airline co. and thus  liable for the deficiency. In the instant case the passengers travelling had a harrowing time without food, water and comfort. The Airline Co. created in the minds of travelers the frustration, confusion, indifference and bewilderment.

15.    Based on the forgoing discussion, I find no justification   of the State Commission to reduce the compensation awarded by the District Forum from  Rs.30,000/-  to Rs 15,000/-. The impugned order of the State Commission is set aside. As the incident was happened in 2013 and we are now in 2019. The OP- Airline Co. protracted the matter unnecessary, thus in my view, it is just fair and equitable to award the compensation of Rs.30000/- and the amount in all fairness and equity, carry reasonable rate of interest.

16.    The OP –Spice Jet Ltd. is directed to pay Rs. 30, 000/- with 6% per annum interest from the date of filing of the respective complaints. The OP shall comply this Order within six weeks of its pronouncement, failing which the District Forum shall undertake execution as per law.

17.    Let the copy of each of this Order be sent by registry to the District Forum and to the complainants within seven days of its pronouncement

All the revision petitions are allowed with modification.