A man filed a lawsuit against an airline! Yes, the airline pays Rs 8,000 as compensation when the suitcase wheel broke in checked baggage. The man, named Rabi Kumar Padhy, fought a four-year legal battle with a consumer court. As he was not satisfied with the responses he received from the ground workers at Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport. When the matter went to court, the judges allegedly scolded the airline for poor service. The court ordered the airline to reimburse the consumer for his baggage and to grant him an additional Rs 3,000 to pay court costs within 45 days. We know the whole story of this man who just won a lawsuit against an airline.
The story begins on route to Bengaluru from Vishakhapatnam
Padhy was on his way to Bengaluru from Vishakhapatnam when the incident occurred in July 2017. He had checked his trolley luggage when the incident occurred. But, according to the report, when Rabi Kumar retrieved the luggage from the KIA conveyor belt in Bengaluru, he found that one of the bag’s four wheels was missing.
Padhy’s initial reaction was to file a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) with the KIA ground crew. Workers responded and investigated this complaint. However, the airline official received a response later, after two days, and was ordered to deliver the luggage to a supplier for repair.
However, he received no response until three months after the bag was delivered. After checking again with the airline official, he came to know that the supplier was unable to repair the bag. When the guy complained about the damage, the airline first paid him Rs 1,000 as compensation. But he wasn’t satisfied, so after putting pressure eventually, the airline increased it to Rs 3,000 as a final payment. Padhy filed a complaint against the airline’s customer service manager at the Consumer Dispute Resolution Commission of Bangalore’s 2nd Additional District in Shantinagar. As he was not satisfied with the offer.
Even though the passenger was unable present a bill to support his claim of ₹20,000 for the luggage. Instead, the judges determined that the airline pays Rs 8,000 in compensation. As the airline waited three months to resolve the issue and did not provide an explanation for the delay in court.