Airlines are liable to compensate its passengers for delay caused due to bad weather even though there may be no deficiency of service on their part, a Delhi District Consumer Court has said, while directing Oman Aviation Services to pay `25,000 to a lawyer and his wife, who had to wait at the Delhi airport for 10 hours in December 2005 as their flight was delayed due to fog and low visibility.
“After going through the material on the record, we find that though there is no deficiency of service on the part of Oman Aviation Services, yet long waiting at the airport caused tiredness and inconvenience to the passengers, who felt frustrated and harassed.”
The district consumer court bench, headed by C.K. Chaturvedi, said, “In these circumstances, to meet the end of consumer justice, we direct the Oman Aviation Services to pay a compensation of `10,000 to each of the complainants (the advocate and his wife) and `5,000 towards litigation expenses.”
The court passed its order on a complaint filed by advocate Hardev Lal Kapur and his wife Sudesh Kapur, who had planned a trip from Delhi to United Arab Emirates via Muscat in December 2005.
They reached the Delhi airport at 6.15 am but had to wait for the flight which was postponed a number of times and took off only at 4.15 pm. Mr Kapur claimed that he was unable to take the connecting flight from Muscat at 4.15 pm the next day. Mr Kapur had filed a complaint before the district consumer forum, claiming a total of `70,000 on account of harassment, loss of two days’ time and litigation expenses. The aviation company, in its reply, had pointed out that the flight was delayed due to fog and low visibility, over which the airlines had no control and there was no negligence on its part.