THE SC HAS GIVEN AN UNPRECEDENTED JUDGMENT REGARDING THE FLIGHT DELAYS SUFFERED BY PASSENGERS WHO ARE ABOARD THE FLIGHT.

“IF THERE IS A FLIGHT DELAY OF LONG DURATION DUE TO ANY PROBLEM IN THE CLEARANCE BY THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, THEN THE PASSENGERS ON BOARD SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT LOUNGE”,SAID a Bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik.

Writing the judgment, Justice Raveendran said: “If for any unforeseen reason, the passengers are required to be on board for a period beyond three hours or more, without the aircraft taking off, an appropriate provision for food and water should be made, apart from providing access to toilets.”

THE DIVISIONAL BENCH HAS HELD THAT CONGESTION OF AIRPORT TRAFFIC LEADING TO DELAY IN FLIGHTS CANNOT BE AN EXCUSE ON ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHORITIES FOR PREVENTING THE PASSENGERS FROM RETURNING TO THE LOUNGE IF THERE WAS A DELAY OF MORE THAN 2 hrs.

In the instant case, N. Satchidanand was awarded Rs. 10,000 as compensation by the Permanent Lok Adalat for Public Utility Services and Rs. 2,500 as costs for his being confined aboard an IndiGo aircraft for 11 hours, after boarding was completed for the Delhi-Hyderabad flight in December 2007. The airline’s writ petition against this award was dismissed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the present appeal is directed against that order.

Allowing the appeal, the Bench said: “If a flight had remained on the tarmac without taking off for 11 hours, after boarding was completed, and if permission was refused to send the passengers to the airport lounge, the airport and ATC authorities had to be blamed for requiring the passengers to stay on board.”

Setting aside the award for damages, the Bench said: “There can be no doubt that the respondent, like any other passenger, forced to sit in a narrow seat for 11 hours, underwent considerable physical hardship and agony on account of the delay. But it was not as a consequence of any deficiency in service, negligence or want of facilitation by the appellant. If the delay was due to reasons beyond the control of the airline and if the appellant and its crew have acted reasonably and in a bona fide manner, the appellant cannot be made liable to pay damages even if there has been some inconvenience or hardship to a passenger on account of the delay.”

PASSENGERS ABOARD CAN RETURN TO THE LOUNGE ON FLIGHT DELAY: SC

REPORT BY BIKRAM SINGH RANA