This story is from September 21, 2019

Honeymoon Mumbai couple gets Rs 5 lakh payout

The state consumer commission on Thursday ordered Thai Airways Ltd to pay a compensation of around Rs 5.2 lakh to a Sion couple who had to cancel their honeymoon to New Zealand in 2013 after the airline did not give them boarding passes for their Bangkok-Auckland flight. The couple, who had arrived at the airport with their visas, were only handed boarding passes for the Mumbai-Bangkok leg and told they were on the "Not Ok to Board" list for the rest of the journey.
Honeymoon Mumbai couple gets Rs 5 lakh payout
Representative image
MUMBAI: The state consumer commission on Thursday ordered Thai Airways Ltd to pay a compensation of around Rs 5.2 lakh to a Sion couple who had to cancel their honeymoon to New Zealand in 2013 after the airline did not give them boarding passes for their Bangkok-Auckland flight. The couple, who had arrived at the airport with their visas, were only handed boarding passes for the Mumbai-Bangkok leg and told they were on the "Not Ok to Board" list for the rest of the journey.

The commission said the airlines should have informed the couple in advance to enable them to make alternative arrangements for their honeymoon.
"Appellants (Ankit and Monali Shah) were taken by surprise due to deficiency in service on the part of Thai Airways Ltd and their staff, which resulted in great inconvenience and frustration for newly-married couple as honeymoon trip, which is a very special occasion for newly-married couple, which ought to be compensated exemplarily, reasonably and justly..." the commission said.
The Shahs had appealed before Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 2018 after a district forum rejected their complaint in 2017.
The airlines has to pay the couple Rs 2.6 lakh towards losses suffered due to cancellation of the trip and tickets, along with 9% interest from December 2013. It will also have to pay Rs 1.2 lakh as compensation for mental and physical harassment, and costs of litigation.
The Shahs said that on December 19, 2013, they had paid Rs 1.3 lakh for two tickets from Mumbai to Auckland via Bangkok. They said they were denied boarding passes to Auckland after they checked in, which left them with no option but to cancel the entire trip.

In December 2017, a district forum had ruled in the airline's favour and denied that it was guilty of deficiency of service. It relied on the airline's submission that Monali did not have a return ticket, and as per New Zealand immigration rules, a passenger "travelling on a one-way ticket" would be treated as an "inadmissible passenger".
Iterating the submissions, the airline told the state commission that they had received the message 'Not Ok to Board' in their system, and therefore did not issue boarding passes.
But the commission set aside the forum's order.
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About the Author
Rebecca Samervel

Armed with a degree in political science and law, Rebecca Samervel waltzed into journalism after a brief stint in modeling. As a reporter at The Times of India, Mumbai, she covers courts. She is a self-confessed food-a-holic. Travelling, politics and television are her passions. If you want to find her during the week the only place to look is the Bombay high court.

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