http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=23218
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Seat Cancellation to 12
Indian consumer body asks for Biman penalty
Star Re****t
Delhi State Consumer Commission has asked Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Ltd to pay Rs 4.5 lakh to 12 of its passengers for cancelling their
seats back in 2004.
The seats were cancelled because, the airlines said at that time, they
had not re-confirmed their booking 72 hours before departure.
Biman authorities yesterday said they were not aware of the latest
development of the incident.
When contacted, MA Momen, managing director and chief executive
officer of the national flag carrier, said, "I was not here in Biman
when the incident happened. We will take necessary steps after getting
all information in this regard."
Our New Delhi correspondent re****ts: The commission held Biman guilty
of inefficiency in service and unfair trade practice as, it said, the
passengers were denied seats even when they had reached the air****t in
time and the flight took off with several seats unoccupied.
The 12 passengers had bought Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi tickets from an agent
of the airlines. They left the Indian capital for Bangkok on March 11,
2004 and re-confirmed their return tickets on March 13 at the
airlines' local office, the commission said quoting them.
The passengers alleged that they were not provided seats for their
return journey on March 17, 2004 and their plea to accommodate them on
the next flight was also rejected. So, they had to buy fresh tickets
from Thai Airways to return to India.
Biman argued that denying seats to the passengers was well within the
rules and norms under the Warsaw Convention that regulates liability
of airlines.
It contended that according to the rules, if reconfirmation was not
received 72 hours before the departure of a flight, reservation stands
cancelled, and the airlines would be free to allot seat to any other
passenger.
But the commission said had that been the case, the airlines should
have re-allotted the seats to some other passengers after it cancelled
the reservations. There were many unoccupied seats on the flight and
there was no reason for Biman to deny the 12 passengers seats even if
their tickets had been cancelled on technical grounds, it added.
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