Rs 30,000 penalty slapped on Air Vistara for deficiency in service

The consumer forum in Chandigarh has penalised private airline Air Vistara for not allowing a couple from the city to board a plane to Kerala, directing the airline to pay nearly Rs 30,000 to the couple for causing physical and mental harassment.
 
The couple on November 15, 2017 had reached the airport 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure, but the airline did not allow the passenger and his wife to board the flight saying they were late, said a Tribune report. The Delhi to Cochin flight was reportedly scheduled to take off at 6 am on that day.
 
The couple somehow arranged tickets from some other airline for their onward journey, and when they later asked for a refund, Air Vistara denied the same. This forced the passenger to reportedly approach the consumer forum.
 
Air Vistara reportedly pleaded before the consumer forum that the complainant approached the check-in counter of the IGI Airport at 05:27 hours for a flight scheduled for departure at 06:00 hours, which was 12 minutes past closure of the check-in counter and only three minutes before the closure of boarding gates. 
 
The airline further said that the complainant's ticket was therefore considered a ‘no show’ and added it to be an alleged negligence on part of the complainant.
 
After listening to the arguments, the forum reportedly observed that Air Vistara had “miserably failed to produce any documentary evidence to show that the complainant had arrived a few minutes late to the ticket counter”.
 
The Forum reportedly stated that by not allowing the couple to board the plane for ‘irrational reasons’, the airline's action amounted to deficiency in service, causing unprecedented physical and mental harassment to the couple.
 
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Puru Jarewal, counsel for the couple, reportedly said that the actual reason was overbooking by the airline.