SpiceJet MD gets bailable warrant after bouncing passenger

A consumer forum at Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh has issued a bailable warrant against SpiceJet's managing director for ignoring its two-year-old order to reimburse the cost of an air ticket to a passenger who was not allowed to board his flight.

Sambhal District Consumer Forum chairman Liaqat Ali issued the warrant against SpiceJet's MD, taking strong exception to the airline ignoring the forum's order issued on 25 October 2015, the passenger's counsel Devendra Varshney told PTI on Sunday.

Repeated attempts by the news agency to contact the airline's officials to obtain their version of the incident proved futile. Senior advocate Varshney said the matter dates back to 20 April 2015 when his client Navdeep Gupta, a resident of Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh, bought an online air ticket for Rs.5,000 at Hyderabad to travel to Delhi the next day.

But when Gupta reached the Hyderabad airport he was denied a boarding pass on the ground that he did not have a hard copy of the online ticket, and was told to produce one to obtain the boarding pass. The airline's insistence on producing a hard copy of the ticket eventually led to Gupta missing the flight. The airlines did not pay back Gupta the cost of the ticket.

Gupta subsequently moved the district consumer forum, which on 25 October 2015 ordered the airline to pay him Rs5,000 along with 9 per cent interest plus Rs1,000 as costs. But the company did not abide by the forum's order, leading Gupta to approach it once again for enforcement of its directions, said Varshney, adding the matter has been fixed for next hearing on 30 May.