Hyderabad: The consumer court in Hyderabad has directed Etihad Airways to pay a sum of Rs 36,346 to three passengers over the delay in refund amount of flight tickets after the latter was unable to avail their services to travel to the US amid restrictions of COVID-19.
The three passengers, in January 2020 had booked their flight tickets with Etihad from Hyderabad to Chicago, US, via Abu Dhabi, in April. However, all flights were cancelled amid the restrictions of COVID-19 cases in the country.
When the restrictions were relaxed, one of the three attempted to book a flight ticket in August, from Hyderabad to the US for travel in September and return in November. However, this too was cancelled.
In March 2022, the complainant attempted to contact Etihad customer care again to book tickets. However, they were unable to travel due to the unavailability of seats on the flight to the US from Hyderabad. The complainants had to book tickets via a different airline for travel.
Despite several complaints and attempts to reach out to Etihad’s customer care, they failed to receive a response. A legal notice was sent.
On October 19, 2022, the Airline offered to either refund or allow rebooking free of charge on the preferred dates subject to seat availability. The entire amount was refunded to the complainants only on 9 June 2023.
Despite demanding a compensation of Rs 45,00,000, including the cost of the flight tickets from Hyderabad to the US, the court dismissed all claims considering that the refund was made.
However, Etihad has been instructed to pay an interest amount of 9 percent per annum from October 19, 2022, to June 9, 2023, on the total cost of the flight tickets, which is Rs 5,45,738, due to a seven-month delay. This includes an additional charge of Rs 5000. The airline was directed to pay the amount to the complainant within a span of 45 days.
