Mumbai, Dec 31: The Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) has announced its intention to file a class action lawsuit against IndiGo before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).
In a significant move to hold India’s largest airline accountable, the consumer rights organisation plans to seek five times the amount of airfares along with other expenses for the passengers whose flights were cancelled.
Action follows airline’s operational disruption in December
The legal action follows IndiGo’s catastrophic operational meltdown in early December 2025, during which the airline cancelled over 4,500 flights.
The disruptions, attributed to poor planning regarding new pilot flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded during the peak year-end travel season.
Refunds and vouchers termed inadequate by CGSI
While the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) formed a panel to launch a high-level investigation into the matter and also curtailed IndiGo’s winter schedule operations by 10%, the airline refunded more than Rs 900 crore against 8.86 lakh cancelled tickets.
The airline had announced that it will provide travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to all the customers who were stranded at airports and were impacted due to congestion, in addition to MoCA’s laws of providing compensation of up to Rs 10,000 to those whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time.
Consumer body alleges vouchers may lapse unused
However, the CGSI has alleged that the airline vouchers are inadequate against the hardships faced by the passengers, claiming that many of the vouchers will automatically lapse due to non-usage within its one year of validity.
Calling the mandatory compensation and the additional vouchers collectively as grossly inadequate, CGSI has announced that it will file a class action suit against IndiGo before the NCDRC.
CGSI cites systemic failure, not routine cancellations
Dr. Manohar Kamath, CGSI’s honorary general secretary, said, “This was not a normal cancellation but rupturing of the entire system, which might not have been forethought by the aviation ministry while deciding the compensation amount. The legal action is to tell the airline and the world that you can not take consumers on a ride.”
Petition drafting underway, claims invited from passengers
CGSI has started drafting the petition and has invited the affected passengers to file a claim for compensation. This includes refund of cancelled tickets, alternative flight tickets, hotel accommodation, meals, local transportation and non-refundable losses like missed events and business losses. It plans to file the petition by next week once it receives claims of more than Rs 2 crore, as required by the NCDRC.
At least 200 claims needed before filing suit
Rajesh Kothari, legal director of CGSI, said, “The suit will be ready by the end of the week but we will wait for at least 200 claims, which will be analysed and compiled in a spreadsheet to be added along with the suit. We will also make the Director General for Civil Aviation as a party so that the commission can direct the regulator to distribute the compensation amount.”
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Online form and multiple channels opened for claims
According to CGSI, the affected passengers can file their claims on an online form – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMQI1W7ghJcd4DXLBC77Ebv0hKLS-5neb0YlEXEZSXGSeFrg/viewform – and can even share their details on WhatsApp, e-mail or a phone call.
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