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Travel agency directed to pay compensation

By Mandira Nayar

NEW DELHI MAY 31. This was a ticket to nowhere. A holiday that ended exactly where it started, it was one trip that Jorwar Singh and his family would certainly remember.

Having got confirmed air tickets from Delhi to Bangkok and back, he never expected that he would be stranded at the airport even before his holiday began. It took him a two-year-long legal battle to get back what was due to him.

A New Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held Jorwar Singh's travel agents, Travel in Style, liable for issuing confirmed tickets without obtaining any confirmation from Indian Airlines. A bench of the court thus directed Travel in Style to pay Rs. 10,000 as compensation and costs.

Indian Airlines in its defence stated that as per Article 3(c) of the Passenger Sales Agency Agreement entered into with Travel in Style, the agent would make a request for reservation only when he has a request and deposit from a client. However, in this case, Travel in Style had got three seats blocked on the flight by giving the names of the travellers, but with no ticket details or contact addresses. Therefore, the tickets were automatically cancelled.

The airline claimed that it was also not approached for the inward leg of Jorwar Singh's journey. It said that fresh tickets for Mr. Singh and his uncle were purchased for this flight from Ashok International travel agents. But they had no information about the status of travel of his uncle and, therefore, they were not liable for any deficiency.

After going through all the evidence, a bench of the consumer court stated that as far as the Delhi-Bangkok journey was concerned, Indian Airlines could not be held responsible for the mistake committed by its agents. "The agent who after putting in an appearance on the first date of hearing chose to abstain from further proceedings is definitely responsible for issuing an O.K. ticket without obtaining confirmation from the airlines and is therefore liable for his actions,'' the bench held.

As for the other leg of the journey, the ticket was open and therefore, Indian Airlines was not bound to provide the seats on that date for an open ticket. Since the airline had denied having been approached in Bangkok and there was nothing on record to prove that there was any denial of confirmation, there was no deficiency in service on the part of Indian Airlines.

Therefore, the bench held Travel in Style liable for deficiency and directed it to pay compensation and costs.

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