Airlines To Pay Financial Compensation For Delay

In a landmark order, the State Consumer Commission has held that airlines operating from Delhi will have to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 each to domestic travelers if the delay exceeded two hours.

The order came on an appeal filed by Alliance Air Limited (AAL) against the verdict of a District Consumer Forum which had asked it to pay Rs 6,000 as compensation to one Daljit Singh Nirman who could not attend the meeting at Jammu as his flight got delayed by six hours at Delhi airport.

Some experts however feel that Indian airline industry is still in its infancy and problems of infrastructure are not being properly addressed. The private airlines are doing their best in the worst situation and the delay is mainly due to the lack of infrastructure which has clearly not kept pace with the growth of the airlines.

This order might also mean the beginning of the end for low cost carriers as most airlines would try to pass the buck back to consumer in some way or the other.