Airline to compensate flyer for broken luggage, non-veg food

Consumer court orders another 12% if Jet Airways fails to pay in 30 days

A consumer court has directed Jet Airways to pay a city resident Rs 41,500 as compensation for damaged luggage and serving meat while flying with them five years ago.

Gopinath, a resident of Girinagar, was flying from Doha to Bengaluru via Mumbai in May 2013, when Jet Airways staff refused to let him carry his luggage to the cabin. While Gopinath claimed that the luggage weighed within the permissible limits of seven kilograms, the airline disputed it.

The airline allowed their passengers to carry up to 40 kilograms (as check-in baggage), but only luggage weighing not more than seven kilos was allowed inside the flight.

When Gopinath tried to enquire with a manager if his luggage was within the permissible limit, the manager said to have ill-treated him and spoke inappropriately. He said he lost the joy of travel after the rough treatment meted out to him.

Later while flying, he discovered that the food served to him contained meat despite booking vegetarian. Gopinath claimed he also found flecks of plastic in the food. The airline offered to include Gopinath in their reward management programme as a compensation for their mistake, but he refused it.

Following the two unpleasant incidents, Gopinath also found his luggage damaged after landing in Bengaluru airport. He then decided to move the consumer court to claim damages from the airline.

On May 22, Bangalore I Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum headed by its president HR Srinivas and its member D Suresh passed the order directing Jet Airways to pay Rs 26,500 towards repairing the baggage and an additional Rs 15,000 towards litigation expenses.

If the airline failed to pay the consumer within 30 days, the court imposed an additional 12% per annum on the compensation until the airline cleared the dues in full.