Consumer Forum tells Indigo airlines to pay fare, fine

Hyderabad: The Kurnool District Consumer Forum has asked Indigo airlines to pay Rs 8,524 as ticket charges and Rs 8,000 as compensation for mental agony and Rs 2,000 as costs to a passenger complainant because it had  refused to issue a boarding pass to him. The complainant said that he had booked tickets from Chennai to Hyderabad. He reached the airport as per schedule and approached Indigo which refused to give him boarding pass saying time has lapsed.

The complaint was filed by advocates B. Narendranath Reddy,  P. Venkata Ramana Reddy,  M. Sreenivasa Reddy and P. Madhusudhan, all residents of Kurnool, against  Mr. Aditya Ghosh president and director of  Indigo Airlines Private Limited of Gurgaon and ticketing agent, the Master card agency of Kurnool. In August 2016, the complainants booked  flight tickets with Indigo from Chenna to Hyderabad

According  to Indigo, check-in begins two hours before the flight for seating arrangement and closes 45 minutes before the scheduled departure. The outer time limit for reporting for check-in for the particular flight was 10.35pm, as per instructions printed on the ticket. The complainants reported for check-in at about 10.20pm to obtain boarding passes and submitted the hand luggage for check-in. The hand luggage was duly checked and tags were put on them. The complainants approached the counter of Indigo to collect boarding passes.

However, they were told that the time for boarding the flight had lapsed. Indigo demanded Rs 14,597 for alternative flight but the complainants checked-in at two hotel rooms for stay shelling out Rs 2,500. They had to pay Rs 800 for taxi. The complainants reached Kurnool with great difficulty from where they secured accommodation by spending Rs 2,920 in Dadar Express by 3 tier A/C coach train to Gooty. However the opposite parties remained exparte and did not file counter. The forum found enough evidence and ordered compensation to the complainants.