Woman to get Rs 5L from airline for lost bag

MUMBAI: The state consumer commission last week ordered a Spain-based airline to pay Rs 5.25 lakh as compensation to a woman residing at Malabar Hill who lost one of her seven bags on a flight from Rome to Barcelona in 2010.
Holding Vueling Airlines and Iberia Baggage Handling guilty of deficiency in service, the state consumer commission said, "The opponents have miserably failed to trace the missing baggage and return it to the complainant.The airline was duty-bound to make efforts and revert to the complainant about tracing of the bag. Record shows that no efforts have been made by the airline or its agent."
The complaint was filed by Malabar Hill resident Aarati Deshmukh through advocate Uday Wavikar. The complaint said that on arrival at Barcelona on May 7, 2010, she found that one bag was missing. She immediately lodged a complaint with the baggage handling centre. It informed Deshmukh that due to an oversight of the baggage handling staff, one of the bags must have inadvertently got transferred to Munich airport. They assured her that it would be returned to her as soon as the bag was traced. However, on May 14, 2010, it was disclosed to her that the bag could not be traced until then. A second compliant was then lodged with Barcelona airport.
Deshmukh told the commission that the bag contained several items including expensive sarees, footwear, woollens and also a watch worth Rs4 lakh which was to be gifted to her husband for his birthday. She pegged the worth of the items at Rs11.50 lakh. Deshmukh told the commission that the loss of the articles had caused her mental agony.
Deshmukh alleged that despite constant and continuous efforts and follow-up with the airline and the baggage service, the bag could not be traced. Aggrieved, Deshmukh filed the complaint in 2011. Both the airline and the baggage handling agents remained unrepresented in the commission after which the commission proceeded against them.