83-yr-old woman left unattended in Dubai by airline for 12 hrs

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 4

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chandigarh, has directed an airline to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 to an 83-year-old woman for leaving her unattended in Dubai for 12 hours without food and water while she waited for the delayed flight. The commission also directed the company to reimburse Rs31,850 being the cost of the cancelled one-way ticket.

In her complaint, Krishna Malhotra (83) said she purchased an air ticket of Etihad Airline for to-and-fro journey from New Delhi to Sydney (Australia) and Sydney to New Delhi after paying Rs 63,700. She said a special request was made to provide her a wheelchair. She started her journey from New Delhi to Sydney on January 1, 2019. When the flight reached Abu Dhabi, she was told that the connecting flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney was delayed by one hour. Later, she was informed that the flight was delayed by approximately 12 hours and was rescheduled to depart at 9:40 am (Abu Dhabi time).

Krishna alleged that when she asked for some hotel accommodation, she was dumped at some hotel lounge. She alleged that she was not provided any room, food or water by the hotel authorities and she was forced to sit in the lounge area. She complained to the hotel reception about her being suffering from headache and backache, but the receptionist did not accommodate her in any manner.

After repeated requests, she was told that there was a buffet system and it was only after that she got to eat food. She had to spend an hour without any information and assistance in an unknown country while sitting in the hotel lounge until she was picked up for the flight late at night. She also alleged that on arrival at Sydney, despite her request that she is having knee pain, she was not provided a wheelchair by the authorities concerned.

She said due to her experience with the airline, she cancelled her return journey from Sydney to New Delhi. The travel agency cancelled her return journey and booked another ticket through Air India after paying Rs 34,536. She alleged that instead of giving a refund of the cancelled ticket, the company rejected her claim.

Nobody from the airline turned up before the commission. After hearing the arguments, the commission observed that despite being duly aware about the old age of the complainant, the airline ignored the immense harassment suffered by her physically as well as mentally. This is a clear cut case of deficiency in service.

The company has been directed to reimburse Rs 31,850 being the cost of the cancelled one-way ticket. It was also directed to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation to the complainant for causing harassment on account of deficient service along with litigation costs of Rs 10,000.