Srinagar: A consumer court has directed SpiceJet to refund fares and compensate a couple for denying them boarding on a flight from Delhi to Srinagar after they returned from the Haj pilgrimage in 2024.
The airline will have to pay more than Rs 62,000 to the Srinagar couple who were reportedly forced to spend the night at Delhi airport and book alternative tickets the next morning.
SpiceJet allegedly denied boarding to the couple despite their having valid boarding passes, completing check-in formalities, and arriving at the boarding gate on time, according to an Indian Express report.
A consumer commission in Srinagar directed the airline to refund the ticket cost of Rs 10,078 and pay Rs 52,000 as compensation to Ghulam Nabi Fafoo and his wife Raja Begum.
Fafoo told the commission that the incident happened on July 8, 2024. The couple were returning to Srinagar after completing the Hajj pilgrimage, he said. Their son had booked tickets for a SpiceJet flight scheduled to depart Delhi at 6.45 pm and reach Srinagar at 8.20 pm.
They had
reached the airport well before the departure and completed check-in formalities. They had even checked their luggage in with the airline and obtained boarding passes before proceeding to the boarding gate, the complainant claimed.
However, when boarding commenced, and they approached the gate with their valid boarding passes, they were allegedly not allowed to board the aircraft, it was reported.
When he sought an explanation for the denial, the airline staff failed to provide any reason for denying boarding to him and his wife, Fafoo claimed.
“Blue-eyed people” were accommodated on the flight in their place, he alleged, adding that their boarding passes were subsequently cancelled by the airline.
Their checked-in baggage was also allegedly returned after several hours, as a result of which they missed all available flights to Srinagar that day and were forced to spend a night in Delhi, Mint reported.
This added considerable inconvenience and mental distress to the couple, the complaint said.
They were forced to book an IndiGo flight to Srinagar for the next morning at a significantly higher fare of Rs 13,450, incurring additional expenses.
The consumer commission bench, comprising President Dr Farah Deeba and member Shabnum Munshi, held SpiceJet responsible for the inconvenience and financial loss suffered.
“The opposite party (SpiceJet) is held liable not only for being deficient in service but also for adopting unfair trade practice towards the complainant,” the commission’s noted.
“It is also acknowledged that due to such action of the opposite party, the complainant has suffered immense mental pain, agony, harassment and financial loss,” it said.