The Hindu : New Delhi News : Alitalia Airlines fined for denying seat to Bishop

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Alitalia Airlines fined for denying seat to Bishop

New Delhi: An Italian airline, which left a Bishop stranded at Kuwait for over six hours despite his having a confirmed ticket to Rome, has been asked to cough up Rs.25,000 for its deficiency in service. Holding that Alitalia Airlines was responsible for acts of omission by its agent, the State Consumer Commission directed Alitalia Airlines to pay the damages to Bishop John B Thakur SJ from Bihar within a month.

“Once a confirmed status is provided to a ticket, the passenger cannot be offloaded for any reason whatsoever,” the Commission’s President Justice J D Kapoor said in a recent decision, in response to a complaint by the Bishop who had asked for a compensation of Rs.9.5 lakh. The Commission noted that the priest was adjusted in the next flight to Rome and was subjected to mental agony for the six hours which he spent waiting for another flight. Bishop, a native of Muzzafarpur in Bihar, had purchased a ticket from Mumbai to Rome from the airline’s booking agent in July, 1997.

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