Spicejet directed to pay up for flight cancellation

HYDERABAD: While it’s a common practice for airlines to cancel flights “due to bad weather” it appears that the actual reason for cancellation is not always the weather. It became manifest when a private airline could not prove that a Hyderabad-Varanasi flight had been cancelled due to bad weather as it had claimed.  An amount of about Rs 50,000 is what a district consumer disputes redressal forum has directed the service provider, Spicejet, to compensate the customer with. Spicejet has also been asked to refund the ticket fare to the two passengers in question.

The incident dates back to October 31, 2015 when a couple from Gandhi Nagar in the city booked to-and-fro flight tickets from Hyderabad to Varanasi for a trip scheduled for December 2015. They paid a total amount of Rs 17,966 online for the tickets. However, on December 8, 2015, when the couple were to fly to Varanasi, the airline management sent a message that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. It also stated that the amount paid towards ticket fare would be refunded. But until the date of lodging a complaint, the refund was not processed.

“We had to pay Rs  30,000 for conduct of a puja in Varanasi on December 8 but due to the cancellation of the flight the puja could not be performed,” said C Rama Kumari, the complainant. The consumer forum, in its judgment, held that the airline could not prove its point of bad weather on the day of the flight.The forum directed Spicejet to refund the ticket charges of Rs 17,966 with 18 per cent interest, Rs 15,000 as compensation with Rs 18 per cent interest and Rs 3,000 towards court charges.