CHENNAI: Almost 11 years after a city resident lost his checked-in baggage which contained medical reports and business documents while travelling in a British Airways flight, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, South Chennai, has ordered the airlines to pay Rs 90,000 to the traveller.
The matter dates back to September 2007 when Sumanth Subramanian of Besant Nagar was travelling from Chennai to USA with his wife in British Airways. When the couple landed at the Washington International Airport, they found one of their three checked-in baggages to be missing. After they lodged a complaint with the airline, they were informed that a compensation will be paid.
A month later Sumanth was offered Rs 41,610 as compensation for the missing baggage by the airlines. But no efforts were made to trace the baggage which went missing due to negligence and deficiency on their part, said the resident in his complaint to the forum. “We didn’t even have a set of extra clothes to change. I could not attend any business meeting as all my important documents were lost. My wife lost her medical reports also,” said Sumanth in his complaint.
The airlines denied all allegations and said according to the Carriage by Air Act 1972 they were not liable for the incident. “The complainant is entitled to get only Rs 20,875 as the baggage weighed 23kg, the maximum permissible weight. But we offered Rs 20,000 more than that amount,” said the airline in defence.
The forum said that though the airlines claimed that the baggage was lost due to technical snags developed in the system, no proof was submitted to substantiate this.
Rs 50,000 for lost items
The forum comprising President M Mony and Judicial Member K Amala ordered the airlines to pay Rs 50,000 towards the lost items and Rs 40,000 as compensation