A consumer court here has ordered the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) to pay Rs.5 lakh as compensation to a passenger for offloading him midway en-route Dubai.
A complaint lodged with the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum by Abdul Salam Kallatra, an NRI businessman hailing from Melparamba, near here, said, he was forced to discontinue his journey in Bengaluru after he boarded the flight from Mangaluru on December 15, 2011.
Mr. Salam had purchased a Mangaluru-Dubai ticket via Bengaluru from a travel agency here. Though Mr. Salam was allowed to board the flight from Mangaluru, Kingfisher authorities offloaded him in Bengaluru.
The airlines officials contended that the visa of Mr. Salam, a UAE resident, had expired. The officials had argued that Mr. Salam had returned to the UAE after six months of stay in India. However, Mr. Salam said that during the six months, he had visited Dubai while returning from Saudi Arabia, where he had gone to take part in the Umrah ceremony.
The forum, chaired by P. Rema Devi, ruled that the airline’s action was illegal maintaining that the Airline did not make any effort to verify Mr. Salam’s claim nor did they contact the UAE immigration official before offloading him.
The forum ordered the airline to pay Rs.5 lakh along with the court expense for infringing on the rights of a customer. Mr. Salam was represented by Shajith Kammadam and the airline by P.A. Muhammed Faisal.
