A consumer commision here has asked private carrier SpiceJet Limited to repay a senior citizen couple the amount they had paid for a flight cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel ruled that the airline was guilty of deficiency in service by not refunding the ticket fee after the flight cancellation and despite clear directives from the Supreme Court and aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation).
The district consumer disputes redressal commission (Mumbai suburban) passed the order last month and its details were public recently.
As per the ruling, the complainants, residents of suburban Chembur, had booked two tickets on June 24, 2020, from Mumbai to Pondicherry via Bangalore for a scheduled trip on July 1 and paid Rs 13,696 with a credit card for both tickets.
As per their complaint, the couple thereafter received an email from the airline alerting them that their flight had been cancelled.
In another email, SpiceJet notified the couple that the tickets will be preserved in a credit shell which can be used to make a fresh booking for travel till March 31, 2021, for the same passengers.
But the pair wanted a full refund of the ticket cost, saying they had no plans for travel.
They sent multiple emails to SpiceJet between September 2021 and February 2022 asking a complete refund of their money with interest.
The airline always answered positevely and advised the pair to wait till the fulfillment of paperwork. Later, it sought the complainants’ bank details to “refund” the ticket booking amount.
While the complainants promptly cooperated, the airline didn’t return the money, causing the elderly citizens to raise the complaint to the airline’s nodal officer.
However, the nodal officer’s response was similar to that of the airline. Even a formal notice filed through their lawyers to the carrier went ignored, the stated.
The couple then approached the consumer commission, seeking the booking cost of Rs 13,696 besides interest at 9 per cent per annum, Rs 1,50,000 towards mental suffering and Rs 50,000 towards litigation charges.
SpiceJet maintained that it sought to transfer the ticket booking amount to the account provided by the couple but the transaction was denied with remarks like account does not exist and erroneous account data in January 2023.
The commission in its order stated that the bank statements placed on record by the complainants proved that their account was active at the time of claimed transfer attempts by the airline.
With reference to the purported transaction failures, the carrier did not offer any proof. The opponent’s argument lost credibility because there was no supporting documentation, according to the commission.
Therefore, we are of the belief that the opponent is unwilling to refund the ticket purchasing cost staging ambiguous and absurd justifications, it stated.
The commission instructed the airline to reimburse the complainants the complete ticket booking fee of Rs 13,696 without deducting any charges with an interest of 9 per cent per annum from the date of the flight cancellation till the actual realisation.
The airline was also instructed to compensate the complainants Rs 10,000 towards mental suffering and Rs 5,000 towards the expense of litigation.
SpiceJet to pay elderly couple full refund for flight cancelled in Covid | Company News
