Family denied flight at Bengaluru airport, court orders airline and travel agency to pay Rs 1.2 lakh

BENGALURU: Denied boarding on a flight to the US at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), a family of three knocked on the doors of a consumer court, which recently ordered the airline and a travel agency to pay Rs 1.2 lakh in compensation and litigation costs.
Gopal Ramachandraiah, 42, a resident of Kodihalli, had to go to the US on a business trip and decided to take his wife and two-and-half-year-old daughter along. He booked three return tickets to Denver, Colorado via London, on Aug 28, 2022, on British Airways through the Gurgaon-based travel agency CheapOair by paying slightly over Rs 3 lakh through his credit card.
The trio reached KIA in the early hours of Sept 27, but were in shock when the authorities stopped them from boarding the flight. They were told their tickets were under suspension over a payment issue. The money, though, had been deducted from Gopal's credit card and he was not informed of any payment issue.
An upset Gopal escalated the issue with the higher officials of British Airways and they asked him to take up the issue with CheapOair. Since it was also a business trip, Gopal was forced to book another ticket on Lufthansa the next day from Mumbai by paying Rs 3.6 lakh.
Gopal issued a legal notice on June 30, 2023, to both airline and the travel agency, but got no response. Fed up with the rude behaviour and wanting his money back, Gopal filed a complaint to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bengaluru (Urban), on Aug 22, 2023.
While the airline submitted a written version, the travel agency remained absent. The airline said tickets were suspended due to a flagged payment issue as the card had a suspension remark from its past bookings. The airline further claimed that the family was given an option to repurchase tickets using cash or in-person card payment but it declined, leading to its inability to travel.
The airline asserted that a full refund was issued on Aug 28, 2023, and argued that it was the travel agency's responsibility to inform the passengers about the status of their tickets. Additionally, the airline contended that since Gopal had booked the tickets for what was essentially a business trip, the family did not qualify for redressal under consumer protection laws. The airline said it had refunded the money, therefore there was no cause of action left.
After going through all the documents and proofs (emails, payment screenshots, etc), the commission said it was clear that even though the travel agency was very much aware of the ticket suspension, it simply kept quiet and did not inform Gopal about it. The commission noted that the entire humiliation and harassment the family suffered was due to negligence by both the agency and the airline.
"Instead of informing the complainants about the suspension of their tickets early, the airline and the travel agency behaved with the family in an illegal manner by harassing them and also preventing them from boarding the flight," the commission said.
The commission ordered both British Airways and CheapOair to pay interest at the rate of 8% on the airfare of Rs 3 lakh from Aug 28, 2022, till Aug 28, 2023, for the inconvenience caused, harassment, mental agony, and financial loss suffered by the family. The court asked them to pay Rs 1 lakh and Rs 20,000 in compensation and litigation costs.