PIA ordered to pay passenger Rs 1 lakh

New Delhi: Nine years after an Indian hotel manager in Saudi Arabia was taken from India to Pakistan and back in an incredible series of bungled flight schedules, the State Consumer Commission has directed Pakistan International Airlines to compensate him with Rs 1 lakh.
The passenger Bhagwan Dutt of Sikr in Rajasthan was manager in a Riyadh hotel. He had come to India on a three-month visit visa that was to expire on December 19, 1998.
He bought an economy class ticket for a PIA Delhi-Riyadh flight of December 16. But on reaching the airport, Dutt was informed the flight had been cancelled and that he’d be taken to Karachi the following day. On December 17, he was flown to Karachi, only to be kept there till December 22 instead of being provided a connecting flight to Riyadh. And on December 23, he was put on another PIA flight that brought him back to Delhi. By this time, his visa had expired.
PIA denied shortcomings or deficiency in service and blamed the fog. It listed other flights from Delhi that were delayed that month because of fog and produced news clippings. It also said that Dutt was taken to Karachi the next day and attempts were made to put him on a connecting flight to Riyadh but he couldn’t be accommodated because of rush.
The court dismissed the submission saying that the list was of flights that were delayed, not cancelled.
01/10/07 Siddhartha Sarma/Delhi Newsline

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Categories: Foreign Oct 2007