P R ARYAN Vs. BRITISH AIRWAYS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Dr. P. R. Aryan and others (hereinafter referred to as the 'Petitioners') have filed the present revision petition against the order of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the 'State Commission') in Appeal No. 2177 of 2001 in favour of British Airways and World View Travels & Tours, hereinafter referred to as 'Respondent Nos. 1 and 2', respectively.

(2.) Petitioners in their complaint before the District Forum have stated that they had purchased four open tickets from Respondent No. 1 through its agent Respondent No. 2 for the sector Delhi-London-New York and New York-London-Delhi for Rs. 43,552/- per ticket. Petitioners reached New York on 02.11.1999 after a stay of one day in London. On 10.11.1999 they decided to return to India and therefore, requested Respondent No. 1 for confirmation of their seats for 20.11.1999 or any other day around that date. Respondent No. 1, however, informed them that while seats could be provided for the New York-London sector, no seats were available from London to New Delhi before 15.01.2000. Although, Petitioners again requested for an earlier date since they did not have the means to stay in New York for such a long period and they also did not have a visa for London, Respondent No. 1 again informed that this was not possible. Petitioners, thereafter, contacted Respondent No. 2 who advised them to reach Delhi by any other available flight and that they could claim the refund for the unutilized coupons. On receipt of this advice, Petitioners purchased fresh tickets on Gulf Airways and returned to Delhi on 20.11.1999. Petitioners thereafter submitted the unutilized coupons for their return journey to Respondent No. 1 through Respondent No. 2 requesting for refund who, however, declined to pay the same. Being aggrieved, Petitioners filed a complaint before the District Forum on grounds of deficiency in service and requested that the Respondents be directed to make refund all the unutilized four tickets and Rs. 10,000/- for harassment and mental agony along with costs.

(3.) Respondent No. 1 on the other hand has stated that the tickets purchased by the Petitioners were excursion air-tickets on which a heavy discount was available and in fact the single fare was far more than what has been paid by the Petitioners for the return journey and therefore, nothing was now payable to the Petitioners. Further, it was stated that these tickets were valid only for British Airways flight and were not re-routable and refundable and also valid for a specified period (in this case for 4 months). Respondent No. 2 confirmed that Respondent No. 1 had informed that it was not permissible to get any refunds under the special promotional fares and that refund would have been possible only if the Petitioners had flown British Airways.