Hyderabad: Spicejet to pay Rs 40 thousand for losing MBA grad’s books ahead of exams
HYDERABAD: Two airline services have been found guilty of deficiency in services and was directed to compensate its consumers by a district consumer forum. In the first case, the forum asked Spice Jet to pay Rs 30,000 for the loss caused to a city-based student whose luggage was misplaced. It also ordered the company to pay Rs 10,000 towards compensation and court charges.
The petitioner, Pranay Pasari, an MBA student from Hyderabad, went to Delhi in Spice Jet in November 2016 to appear for his semester examinations. But after his arrival in Delhi, he realised that his baggage had gone missing. “The short trip to Hyderabad for Diwali has cost me my baggage, which was carelessly misplaced by airlines,” said Pasari.
“I had examinations lined up during the week and because of the misplace, I failed to perform well as books relating to the exam were in the baggage,” he added. Though the airlines offered Rs 200 per kg of the baggage weight, Pasari rejected the offer as the value of the contents of the baggage were far expensive than the estimation offered.
In a separate incident, senior citizens CS Ramachandra Murthy, and his wife C Vijaya Lakshmi calimed that airline operator Air Costa had failed to inform them of delay in their flight from Coimbatore to Hyderabad while travelling in May 2016.
Though the flight was scheduled at 9:55 am on May 15, 2016, it did not arrive until 7 pm. The couple was also not informed of the delay until 1:30 pm and the airlines provided food only after the couple and the passengers of the flight complained at 3.30 p.m.
Being old, Lakshmi could not withstand long hours of sitting and developed back pain, knee pain and fever. Despite writing a complaint to the airlines after reaching Hyderabad, they did not respond. The airlines even chose to abstain from attending the hearings. The president while pronouncing the order observed that the couple was put to physical and mental torture. The forum directed Air Costa airlines to pay Rs 30,000 towards compensation and Rs 10,000 towards court charges.
1.2 kg gold bars found under aircraft seat at RGIA
An air passenger was arrested at the RGIA here on Friday for smuggling ganja from Dubai. The passenger, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was carrying the contraband at the behest of a kingpin based in Gulf countries. He was asked to leave the gold under the seat of the plane and was offered Rs 50,000 in return. Basing on a list of frequent fliers, officials of the air intelligence unit of customs department intercepted the passenger, who travelled from Dubai to Hyderabad by an Air India flight, at the exit gate of international arrivals.
Upon checking his baggage, the officials could not find any contraband goods. The AIU officials checked the credentials of the passenger and found the passenger was a frequent traveller from Gulf countries to different airports in India. “The passenger was taken to the aircraft and the specific seat mentioned where the sleuths found two packets containing 10 tola bars, all weighing about 1.224 kg.