The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Hyderabad bench, with Ram Gopal Reddy as president, found Etihad Airways liable for inadequate services and unfair trade practices for the airline’s failure to reimburse the air ticket price after the flight was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Using the services of Etihad Airways, the complainants, Mayur Mullaguri and Chaitanya Chand Chandra, a married couple spent holidays abroad. They organised a trip to the USA. As lockdowns were imposed due to Covid, the complainants had to postpone their trip.
The complainants made several attempts to get in touch with Etihad’s customer service after reading in their local newspaper that US borders would reopen for foreign travel in November 2021, but they never received a response. The complainants were unable to file any more complaints since their PNR (passenger name record) was barred and inactive until January 3, 2022.
The District Commission noted that the complainants requested a reimbursement for ticket cancellations via Twitter and emails, and Etihad failed to resolve the problem adequately. Rather than offering a remedy or a refund, Etihad kept telling the complainants to get in touch with their call center or that they would check with them.
As a result, the District Commission ordered that despite unambiguous mandates from the Director General of Civil Aviation and Supreme Court decisions, Etihad failed to reimburse the complainants’ flight expenses. Furthermore, Etihad terminated the PNR without addressing the problem.
Etihad was found accountable by the District Commission for unfair commercial practices and service deficiencies. It ordered Etihad to return the whole amount of money received, or Rs. 2,76,709, plus interest at the rate of 12% annually along with compensation.
