IMPORTANT POINT
Airlines must be helpful and courteous towards its passengers.

Mrs. Neena Sandhu, Member—This appeal is directed against the order dated 14.12.2011, rendered by the learned District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, UT, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as the District Forum) vide which it allowed the complaint, filed by the complainants/respondents, and directed the appellant/OP as under:-

“16] In view of the foregoing, after taking into consideration the pleadings as well as evidence led by the parties, we are of the considered opinion that the OP Company was deficient in providing proper services to the complainants. The present complaint has lot of merit, weight and substance. The same is accordingly allowed. The OP is directed to pay Rs.6,062/- to each of the complainants i.e. Rs.18,186/- which they had spent for the purchase of air tickets of Indigo Flight plus Rs.9830/- spent by them for one day Hotel Stay at Mumbai (18,186 + 9830/- = Rs.28,016/-) The OP is also directed to pay a compensation of Rs.25,000/- apart from Rs.10,000/- as litigation costs.

17] The order be complied with by the OP within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which the OP shall be liable to pay interest on the above said awarded amount @12% p.a. from the date of filing this complaint i.e. 09.12.2010 till its actual payment, besides paying litigation cost of Rs.10,000/-.”

2. The facts of the complaint, in brief, are that the complainants, alongwith their spouses, booked air tickets of the opposite party-Airlines, for their official tour from Chandigarh to Mumbai to attend the 71st Session of Indian Road Congress as official delegates. It was stated that they reached the airport, in time, and got the boarding passes issued. Thereafter, it was announced by the opposite party, that the flight was late due to technical fault and was likely to take off at 14.00 hours. However, at 13.00 hours, further announcement was made by the opposite party that the flight would take off at 16.00 hours. The complainants immediately approached the Officer-in-Charge of the opposite party, and apprised him of the situation, that their connecting flight would be missed due to the delayed flight and requested him to make alternative arrangement for them to reach Mumbai through some other Airlines, upon which he assured that the flight would be definitely connecting their further flight from Mumbai to Nagpur as he had spoken to his counterpart at Mumbai for making such arrangement for the complainants. But to the utter shock and surprise of the complainants, when they reached Mumbai, the connecting flight had already taken off. Subsequently, they approached the Officer-in-Charge of the opposite party, but to no avail. It was submitted by the complainants that they had to purchase fresh air tickets of IndiGo Airlines for next day i.e. 12.11.2010 and had also to stay in a hotel at Mumbai at their own expenses. They finally reached destination at 18.00 hours i.e. 22 hours behind schedule. It was further stated that the complainants were deprived of the knowledge, which they would have gained, had they reached the venue well in time. It was further stated that they not only suffered mental and physical harassment, and had to incur unnecessary expenditure, but also suffered irreparable loss by not acquiring the knowledge for which they were deputed by the concerned Government. When the grievance of the complainant was not redressed, left with no alternative, a complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was filed.

3. The opposite party, in its written reply, admitted the factual matrix of the case and stated that the flight was delayed due to technical fault, which was beyond the control of the Airlines. In support of its version, the opposite party placed on record the Incident Report Form, wherein Pilot’s Report has been mentioned. The remaining averments, were denied, being wrong.

4. The parties led evidence, in s