Flier held up, airline & agent fined Rs 50K

NEW DELHI: The central district consumer forum has pulled up an airline and a travel agent for the inconvenience caused to a passenger who despite having a Miami-Milan-Delhi return ticket was not allowed to board the return flight.
Vir Philip, a resident of Malcha Marg in Chanakyapuri, after he was refused boarding at Milan, was forced to take a flight to London where he arranged for a fresh ticket to New Delhi.The forum has asked airline Alitalia and Coronation Travels to reimburse Rs 31,791, which the complainant paid for the new ticket, and pay additional Rs 50,000 as compensation for the mental harassment caused to Philip.
Philip had booked the ticket for his journey to Miami for January 4, 2006. He was planning to return back on August 2, 2006. While his journey to Miami was uneventful, he hit a rough patch when he was returning. He had advanced his return journey to May 12, 2006, something that was confirmed by the travel agent.
However, when he was in transit at Miami Airport, the officer in charge of the airline did not allow him to board the flight.
In its defence, Alitalia stated if there was any deficiency in service, it was on the part of the travel agent and not the airline. The travel agent, however, argued that the airline was at fault. After examining the records and documents placed before the consumer forum, its president A K Jain noted there was deficiency on the part of both the airline and travel agent.