It is the duty of the airlines to check if a passenger has a valid visa or not while allowing him to travel, observed the Navsari Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC) while awarding compensation to a senior citizen couple.
The CDRC ordered British Airways to pay Rs 2.93 lakh to 74-year-old Hasmukh Mehta who was sent back from London along with his wife after his US visa was revoked in December 2021.
According to case details, Mehta and his wife had a valid US visitor visa for a period of 10 years from December 27, 2012 to December 25, 2022. Between 2012 and 2018, the couple had travelled to US three times.
In December 2021, their son Sahil Mehta booked their tickets to US with British Airways in India.
They were to travel to Atlanta from Mumbai via London on December 15, 2021.
The couple was given a boarding pass to London for the Mumbai-London flight on December 14, 2021. When Mehta sought the boarding pass for connecting flight to Atlanta, they were told to collect it from London airport as there was some error in the system.
After a 10-hour flight, the couple reached London’s Heathrow airport where Mehta was told that their US visa had been revoked and they needed to go back to India. They boarded Air India’s Delhi flight from London. When they landed in Delhi, due to Covid-related formalities, they missed their flight to Mumbai. Finally, they took a Delhi-Surat flight. The elderly couple reached their Navsari home after 58 hours from London.
Mehta then approached the Navsari CDRC seeking refund of Rs 1.3 lakh ticket fare from Mumbai to Atlanta, Rs 25,000 for Delhi-Surat ticket and Rs 13,500 baggage fees that they had to pay, from British Airways. Mehta also sought compensation of Rs 50 lakh for mental and physical harassment. During the hearing, the advocate of British Airways argued that Mehta’s visa was cancelled by US Homeland Security as the couple overstayed in the past.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Maharishi Valmiki International Airport Ayodhya Dham, and Air India Express was an integral part of this historic day. Aloke Singh, Managing Director of Air India Express, presented the first boarding pass of the flight to the guests at the Ayodhya airport, marking a significant milestone.
‘Carelessness to allow duo to travel till UK’
The airline was informed about the same at 9.28 am on December 15, 2021, after their MumbaiLondon flight took off. He argued that Mehta knew that their visa was not valid. Complainant should ask USA authority and not the airline for compensation, he added.On Mehta’s behalf, his lawyer argued that the couple had a valid visa when they applied for the ticket. There was no email or message from the US government about revocation of their visa.
He submitted that the British Airways should have checked if the passengers have valid visa or not before giving the boarding pass to London.
After hearing both the parties, the commission observed, “As the airline got message of visa revocation at 9.28 am on December 15, 2021 after flight for London left, it is clear that airline did not check if passengers had valid visa or not.”
Court added that no proof was produced by the airline stating that Mehta knew about the revocation of his or his wife’s visa.
“It was airline’s responsibility to check the validity of visa and allow the couple for travelling further. However, airline issued boarding pass till London and asked passenger to collect further pass from there. And from London, they were sent back after 58 hours of harassment. This shows airline had allowed them till London without proper verification which proves their complete carelessness and makes them liable to pay the compensation.”
Navsari CDRC ordered total compensation of Rs 2.93 lakh including Rs 1,68 lakh for tickets, Rs 1 lakh for mental and physical harassment to the couple and Rs 25,000 for legal expenses.
