A district consumer disputes redressal forum on Monday asked GoAir to pay Rs. 23,800 to a customer as compensation and costs for losing his baggage in a Delhi-Mumbai flight in June 2017.
The customer had claimed Rs. 30,000 as loss on account of the lost bag along with compensation and costs. The complainant Bhushan Chetiwal stated in his complaint filed in September 2017 that his wife and he had checked in two bags at Delhi airport on the day of travel and on arrival at Mumbai, they got only one of those bags.
Chetiwal further said that while the airline staff had assured them that the bag would be delivered in a few hours, they never received it. He had escalated the matter then and even approached the police, after which he was able to see the CCTV footage which showed that the bag never reached the conveyor belt. He claimed there was deficiency in service and unfair trade practice by the airline under the Consumer Protection Act as they failed to settle his claim.
The airline had not appeared before the commission even after a notice was issued to it. However, it noted an email by the airline to Chetiwal, where it had admitted the loss of his baggage and offered to pay him Rs. 3,800 based on Rs. 200 for a kg for 19 kgs (his bag's weight), according to their policy. The commission said this email showed it had accepted its deficient service. The complainant had not accepted this offer as he claimed his loss was higher.
Chetiwal had claimed that the bag contained cash, ornaments and new clothes meant for a family function they were to attend. The commission said that apart from plain statements the complainant had not brought anything on record to show the contents of the bag. It said however that the fact remains that the airline had been negligent, deficient in their service and irresponsible in handling of his baggage. It also noted that the CCTV footage when inspected showed that the bag never reached the conveyor belt, meaning that the airline never loaded it from Delhi airport or misplaced it en-route.
