Air India to refund for tickets cancelled without intimation to Mumbai resident

Mumbai: A district consumer commission has directed Air India (AI) Limited to refund the airfare within 45 days to a south Mumbai resident who had to pay to book tickets hours before the flight as the already booked tickets on the same flight were found to be cancelled withoutprior intimation.

Besides asking AI to refund flight tickets with 12% interest per annum, it also directed the airlines to pay Rs40,000 compensation towards mental agony and litigation cost. The order was passed on a complaint by Gowalia Tank resident Seema Parekh.

A child psychiatrist by profession, Parekh had booked tickets from Mumbai to Indore for April 16, 2019 for a family wedding and an awareness programme. She had paid Rs475 towards the tickets. An evening prior, when she and her husband were about to do web check-in, she learnt that the tickets were cancelled without giving any intimation.

On calling the airline, her husband didn’t receive any help. He was further told that he will have to book tickets as per current price and that only two tickets were left. With no option, four hours prior to departure, they booked the tickets and paid Rs8,560. They did not get frequent flyer points (redeemed) and when they approached the Mumbai office for compensation, their letter was not accepted. Parekh then filed a consumer complaint.

At the commission, Air India contended that being a government undertaking (prior to privatisation) it was bound by rules and guidelines applicable to major international airlines. It stated that the complainant’s husband had booked a ‘on time limit basis’ ticket on the basis of ‘redemption ticket no fare’. However, as per airline, they were supposed to clear the booking procedure by March 22, 2019, by 6pm. That was not done and the ticket automatically got cancelled.

The commission observed that the airline could not provide the recordings of the complainant’s husband with the MAA call centre related to the discussion about his mileage and the conversation when the tickets were cancelled. It also said it gave “no comment” as response to certain issues raised and apologised on the issue related to ‘frequent flyer points’ and agreed to refund Rs475 that they had paid for the first bookings.