NCDRC orders Lufthansa and British Airways to pay Rs.50 lakh compensation to elderly woman passenger

NCDRC orders Lufthansa and British Airways to pay Rs.50 lakh compensation to elderly woman passenger

Harsharan Kaur Dhaliwal, the wife of a retired high court judge, was re-routed without a transit visa

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has ordered German airlines Lufthansa and British Airways to collectively pay compensation of Rs.50 lakh for the harrowing experience that a senior woman passenger underwent after she was unilaterally re-routed by the two airlines.

Importantly, she was re-routed without checking if she had a valid visa for the transit stop, leading to her being detained by local authorities for several hours in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the Harsharn Kaur Dhaliawal vs Lufthansa German Airlines and Ors case, Dinesh Singh (presiding officer) and Justice Karuna Nand Bajpayee (member) noted that the woman was eventually allowed to leave Denmark and return to India via Turkey, only after her husband, a former high court judge, intervened from India. He communicated with the authorities in Copenhagen and convinced them of the bonafide of his wife.

Meanwhile, the passenger, Harsharan Kaur Dhaliwal's ordeal lasted for about 13 hours - from 20 March 2018 at 10 pm to 21 March at 11.50 am.

The bench observed that an innocent elderly woman had to undergo such a harrowing experience for no fault of her own. She was treated like an "insidious suspect" in a foreign land. She remained unheard and un-understood for long hours, thousands of miles away from home. The sobbing lone lady could not evoke any compunction from the authorities.

The incident took place in March 2018, when the woman passenger was scheduled to return to New Delhi from a trip in San Francisco via Frankfurt, Germany.

On 19 March, Harsharan Kaur boarded Lufthansa (Flight LH-455) from San Francisco to Frankfurt. However, after about three hours of waiting, she was told to de-board as the flight would not be taking off.

Lufthansa then re-routed her journey. She was directed to board a British Airways flight from San Francisco, which would take her to Copenhagen. From there she could board an Air India flight to New Delhi.

Without offering her the option for a refund, she was simply handed over the new flight tickets. Moreover, neither Lufthansa nor British Airways checked whether Harsharan Kaur possessed the visa that was required for Copenhagen, the transit stop. Thus, she was made to travel without a visa to Copenhagen. She was neither consulted about the visas nor the passport she held.

The British Airways flight that was to take her to Copenhagen arrived late. So, by the time she reached Copenhagen, the transit stop, the Air India flight (she was scheduled to catch) had already departed for India.

As a result, Harsharan Kaur was left stranded at the Copenhagen airport without a valid visa. It led to her detention by the local police. She spent several hours in detention, before being allowed to leave Copenhagen, that too only after her husband's intervention from India.

Taking offence at the treatment of an elderly Indian woman, NCDRC stated, "Liberty is the very essence of human existence. Its curtailment, even for a 'very short' duration, with the concomitant stigmatic insult as well as the depthless fear of further legal consequences, and that too for no fault or act attributable to the person being detained, cannot be treated as a simple matter of no particular significance. The injury suffered needs to be seen as what it actually is."

The Commission held both Lufthansa and British Airways responsible for the debacle and the plight of Harsharan Kaur.

The bench further remarked, "She was pushed into this precarious situation by the negligent apathy and deficient conduct of the two airlines."

NCDRC noted that apart from the failure to check the visa requirements for the transit stop, the two airlines failed on several other counts.

They had no official in Copenhagen to assist the passenger. She was not provided wheelchair assistance, a suitable diet, or drinking water. Also, the two airlines did not attempt to communicate among themselves or the authorities in Copenhagen.

The Commission also factored that the two airlines did not conduct any fact-finding inquiry over the incident, or expressed regret or apology.

Hence, NCRDC ordered Lufthansa to pay Rs.30 lakh as compensation, while British Airways was ordered to pay Rs.20 lakh. Both amounts would have to be paid with a 5 percent interest per annum from 19 March 2018 - the date of the incident, within eight weeks.

To avoid the re-occurrence of such an event, NCDRC advised, "The two airlines, through their respective senior-most officials stationed in India, shall be better advised to introspect into the facts and happenings of the present case with all seriousness. While fixing responsibility and accountability, it must also inculcate and imbibe systemic improvements for the future so that such trouble and trauma are avoided to passengers at large."