During the flight, the airline staff misbehaved with the elderly couple from Chandigarh. The airline staff did not provide a wheelchair to the couple who were unable to walk at the airport, even though they had included two wheelchairs in their ticket booking. 70-year-old Sunil Chand, a resident of Sector-46, Chandigarh, and his wife 67-year-old Veena Kumari were traveling from Chandigarh to Bangalore.
Sunil Chand and his wife traveled by Indigo Airlines on 11 October 2023. Two wheelchairs were also included in their ticket booking, but when they reached Chandigarh airport, they had to wait for a wheelchair for a long time. The airline staff also misbehaved with them. Therefore, he filed a complaint against the airline in the Consumer Commission. On his complaint, the Commission held the airline guilty of negligence in service and decided to give a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to the elderly couple.
Went to Bangalore for knee surgery
Sunil Chand told in the complaint that he had to get surgery of both his knees in Bangalore. His wife had already undergone knee surgery. He had also booked two wheelchairs in the ticket. The flight was to take off from Chandigarh at 4.45 pm. When he reached Chandigarh airport, he was not given a wheelchair. When he asked the staff, he was told to go and talk to the airlines counter.
Similar behaviour at Bengaluru airport too
Sunil Chand said that there was an Indigo counter at a distance of about 40 feet. He reached there with great difficulty. Then he was dropped to the business lounge in a wheelchair because there was still an hour left for the flight to depart. The staff dropped him in the lounge but no one came to pick him up at the time of boarding. He was taken to the plane in a wheelchair 10 minutes before the flight departed. During this time he had to face a lot of problems. He was treated the same way at Bengaluru airport too. There too he had to wait for a wheelchair.
The airline manager gave a voucher of two thousand rupees
Sunil Chand told the commission that he also complained to the airlines against this behaviour of the staff. Then the airline manager Zafar Naqvi apologized to him and wanted to give him a voucher of two thousand rupees. Therefore, he filed a case against the airline in the consumer commission.
It is the airline’s responsibility to take care of sick passengers
The commission upheld his complaint and said that it is the airline’s responsibility to take care of elderly and sick passengers. Therefore, the commission ordered the airline to pay Rs 50,000 each as compensation to both the passengers.
