Hyderabad: Etihad Airways has been asked to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to a passenger for not allowing him to board despite bearing a confirmed ticket.
The Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the UAE-based airlines to pay the sum to Maddi Vijayabhasker Reddy, a diary consultant, from Vidyanagar, after he was not allowed to board the flight causing him severe embarrassment, humiliation and trauma.
Reddy had booked a flight ticket through the travel agent Suti Travels from Hyderabad to Entebbe (Uganda) on Etihad Airlines and a confirmed ticket was issued to him.
He reached the airport and after completing all the check-in formalities he was issued boarding passes from Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi and from Abu Dhabi to Entebbe.
However, he was stopped by an agent claiming to be a worker of Etihad Airways, who asked him to return his boarding pass.
Reddy complained that he wasn’t given his boarding pass back even after making several requests nor his request to speak to any of the duty managers was accepted.
Reddy further remarked that despite his boarding sequence number being 59 of the 250 flight capacity, he was denied boarding.
Etihad Airlines had in turn humiliated their customer stating that he had no authority to ask for an airline manifest and it was the sole discretion of the airline to offload any passenger in case of over-bookings and that he would be accommodated in the next available flight.
The forum, after hearing the argument charged the airline with a fine of Rs 3 lakh considering the mental agony that Reddy faced.
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