O R D E R
(Per Ms. Cynthia A. Colaco,Member)
The complaint is filed against the opposite party by the complainant under section 12 of the C.P.Act and in the complaint it is stated as under:-
1. That the Complainant had booked an E-tickets from the official website of the opposite party, from Kolkata to Goa and had to avail of two flights in order to complete the journey. The first being a Jet Airways flight (9W620) departing from Kolkata at 13.45 pm and arriving at Mumbai at 16.20pm . The second flight was from Mumbai to Goa departure time being at 17.05 pm and arriving at Dabolim Goa at 18.05pm. Towards the said E tickets a consolidated fare of Rs 12,879:00 each was paid for the entire journey from Kolkata to Goa. That the departures and the arrivals to their respective destinations would be as scheduled.
2. That on 15-03-2013 the Jet airways (9W620) from Kolkota to Mumbai was delayed for 55 minutes, it reached at 17.15 pm instead of the scheduled time, which resulted in her missing the Jet Konnect flight to Goa which left at 17.05 pm.
3. The delay in flight disturbed her entire travel schedule, being a proprietor of Namrata Kashyap and Associates, which is a landscape firm. Therefore the complainant was constrained to buy a ticket with Indigo airlines (ZPPUDR) for the journey from Mumbai to Goa, leaving Mumbai at 19.05 hours and which arrived at the Goa airport at 20.05 hours, for which she was forced to pay a further amount of Rs.4679:00.
4. That being the proprietor of the firm and being well known for her architectural work she had fixed a lot of appointments with her clients who were inconvenienced due to the delay in reaching Goa, which delay was from 18.05 hours to 20.05 hours which is a two hours delay.
5. That she underwent expenses, mental agony and tremendous inconvenience and was not refunded the amount paid for the flight from Mumbai to Goa.
6. That the complainant paid an additional amount of Rs. 4679/- towards the flight ticket from Mumbai to Goa which was an additional expense borne by her.
7. That at the Mumbai airport no assistance was given to her although she was a frequent traveler and holding silver membership card.
8. That she requested the ground staff to convert her ticket to an open ticket on the same PNR or to assist her in finding a safe hotel accommodation in Mumbai as she was alone.
9. Further it was stated in her notice sent that as per regulations of AAI the complainant should have been given suitable accommodation and put on the next available flight as the delayed arrival was the cause of her missing the connecting flight.
10. That she had addressed her grievance to the opposite party by e-mail addressed to jetprivilege@jetairways.com on 16-03-2013 and on 21-05-2013 and the only reply received were auto generated messages.
11. That as the grievances were not addressed by the opposite party the claim was filed praying that the amount paid for the ticket flight of Jet Konnect (9W7009) from Mumbai to Goa of an approximate amount of Rs.7,000:00, and also that the amount of Rs.4679:00 be refunded. For Rs.10,000:00 towards the legal notice and Rs.1,00,000:00 towards compensation.
12. The complaint was presented on 25-10-2013 and admitted on 14-11-2013. The opposite party being served filed their written version on 09-01-2014.
13. In the written version, it has been stated that the complaint was filed with the sole object of extracting money and cost should be imposed under section 26, as the complainant had not come before this Forum with clean hands .
14. It was further stated that though there was a ten minutes delay for the flight leaving from Kolkata , it however landed at the Mumbai airport at the scheduled time namely 16.20 hours., which left the complainant with 45 minutes to board the flight from Mumbai to Goa.
15. That there was a 55 five minutes delay in the flight from Kolkata reaching the Mumbai airport was denied. That this alleged delay resulted in the complainant not being able to avail of the connecting flight from Mumbai to Goa was denied .
16. It was further stated that the flight reached Mumbai at its scheduled time . That despite an interval of 45 minutes from the time of her arrival in Mumbai to the time of departure from Mumbai to Goa being available to her to board her flight she did not do so for reasons best known to her. That her not boarding the flight from Mumbai to Goa was due to her own negligence
17. All the rest of the complaint filed was denied for lack of knowledge and it was stated that the paragraphs 12 and 13 of the complaint were false and frivolous.
18. It was also stated that the complainant has failed to send the alleged grievance to the appropriate authority which is the guest relations department and which fact is clearly mentioned on the website of the opposite party namely www.jetairways.com under the caption 'terms and conditions'.
19. That an interim reply was sent to the complainant on 08-07-2013 seeking time as the issue raised, warranted a proper investigation. The final reply was sent on 09-10-2013 to the complainant at the same address but the same returned unclaimed on 01.11.2013. That the postal department also intimated the advocate of the complainant on 14-10-2013 but the same was not claimed by the advocate for the complainant for reasons best known to them. Reply dated 04-11-2013 was sent along with the returned envelope to the advocate at the same address.
20. A copy of the consignment delivery receipt from the website of the First Flight Couriers is also brought on record for our perusal.
21. Further it was stated that the complainant is not entitled to the claim as the same is not maintainable and prayed that the complaint be dismissed.
22. The issue that arise for consideration therefore is whether the complainant proves that there was a delay of 55 minutes in the arrival of the flight from Kolkata to Mumbai on 15.03.2013 and consequently the complainant could not avail of the onward journey by Jet Konnect from Mumbai to Goa as the said flight had already left Mumbai for Goa and consequently is entitled to be refunded the sum of Rs. 7,000.00 and the sum of Rs. 4,679.00 and the costs as claimed by the complainant?
23. We have perused the records and from the records it is seen that apart from the complaint , the complainant has not produced any evidence to establish that there was a delay in the flight Kolkata to Mumbai on 15.03.2013.
24. The complainant has also not brought any evidence on record to establish that she could not avail of the Jet Konnect flight from Mumbai to Goa as the said flight had already left Mumbai to Goa prior to her arrival by the Kolkata Bombay flight.
25. The Opposite party also has not produced any evidence of the facts stated by them in their written version to establish that the flight landed in time on the said date and that the complainant did not avail of the connecting flight for reasons best known to her.
26. In view of the above the issue is answered in the negative and the complaint is dismissed.
O R D E R
Complaint dismissed.
(Shri Jayant S. Prabhu)
President
(Ms. Savita G. Kurtarker)
Member
(Ms. Cynthia A. Colaco)
Member