Airline told to pay Rs 482,000 for faulty service

[LRE]

irline told to pay Rs 482,000 for faulty service

LAHORE: District Consumer Court Judge Syed Maruf Ahmedali has ordered a foreign airline to pay Rs 482,000 to a consumer as expenses of return tickets, expenses of stay in a hotel and compensation for giving him forged air return tickets from Bangkok to Pakistan. The judge directed Joost P Den Hartog, the area manager of the airlines based in Karachi, to ensure the payment within 10 days. The judge passed this order on a petition by Abid Aziz Sheikh. The petitioner submitted that he and his wife planned to visit Dubai and Thailand in August 2007. He said they purchased two tickets of the airline from the company’s office in Lahore against Rs 73,100 and got the tickets confirmed. He said that on their way back to Pakistan from Bangkok, he was informed that the tickets issued to them were forged and there was no seat available with the airline till the end of the month. He said that by that time hotel booking was also over and he had no money left to buy new tickets. He added that the situation had not only ruined his holidays, but also put them into tremendous state of shock and insecurity in a foreign country for many days. He stated that he managed to borrow money from some one to stay in a hotel in Bangkok and also to purchase tickets to return to Pakistan through another airline. He said that the respondent had not only provided defective and faulty service, but also misled him to the effect that the tickets were confirmed which were not. The judge after hearing the arguments of the both parties, ruled that the petitioner was entitled to the refund of the expenses of their airline tickets amounting to Rs 60,000 and expenses of stay in a hotel for one day amounting Rs 12,000. The judge further ordered that the petitioner was also entitled to compensation amounting to Rs 400,000 with cost of the case amounting to Rs 10,000. staff report

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