Hyderabad: Lufthansa has been ordered by a Chennai consumer court to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to an elderly couple for "mental agony and deficiency in service" following flight delays during their journey from Chennai to Vancouver via Frankfurt and a return trip from Frankfurt to Chennai.
In an order issued on August 29, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chennai asked Lufthansa to provide compensation of Rs 50,000 for the mental agony suffered by the complainants along with a sum of Rs 5,000 towards cost of litigation within eight weeks, failing which, the amount will carry interest at the rate of 9 percent from date of the complaint till the date of realisation.
The complainant Joju Dominic (68) and his wife Jasmine Joju (64) booked flight tickets totaling Rs 3,57,509 on November 2022 for Chennai-Frankfurt-Vancouver and Frankfurt-Chennai trips.
The complainants said, during their journey from Chennai to Frankfurt on June 12, 2023, the flight was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes on the pretext that the aircraft was being cleaned and the couple was kept waiting in the aerobridge, causing them inconvenience. Finally, when they boarded the flight, one seat was wet and water kept dripping from above. The complainants approached the airhostess and after a prolonged argument, a premium economy seat was provided as an alternative.
Due to this delay in the first leg of the journey, the couple missed the connecting flight from Frankfurt to Vancouver through Air Canada. Infact, when the couple reached Frankfurt Airport, there was a further delay of 20 to 30 minutes as passengers could not disembark due to unavailability of a gate for passengers. Also, they were not given priority access to use the airport buggy service though they had very short time to board the connecting Air Canada flight.
Resulting which, the couple missed their connecting flight and had to purchase an additional ticket for another Lufthansa flight that was to depart from Frankfurt to Vancouver a couple of hours later. The entire episode left the couple with a series of inconveniences.
The return journey was equally distressing for the couple, particularly the last leg from Frankfurt to Chennai. On September 30, 2023, the couple returned to Chennai, first from Vancouver to Frankfurt through Air Canada and from Frankfurt to Chennai in Lufthansa.
The couple complained that around 1:30 hours after boarding the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, an announcement was made saying the flight needed to return to Frankfurt due to safety reasons as there was a fuel leakage issue. The complainants said that they were directed to report to a service centre, where they allegedly received an extremely harsh treatment. This flight was cancelled and an alternative flight was arranged for them the next day.
They were denied wheelchair assistance and made to walk two to three kilometres to reach the accommodation and also not given buggy service. They had reached Frankfurt Airport at 1:15 pm and till 9:15 am they were not provided any proper meal but only served chips, almonds and juice. The couple said they ran short of their medicines since they had only an exact count with them for the journey.
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