A consumer court has come down heavily on a travel operator for failing to act on a passenger’s request to correct a minor error in the surname on a flight ticket. Despite providing valid proof, the passenger was denied the correction, leaving no option but to cancel the ticket and bear the cancellation charges. Terming it a clear case of negligence and deficiency in service, the court upheld the consumer’s grievance and criticised the operator for its apathetic attitude.
According to the order dated May 20, 2025, the complainant Manidharan had booked a ticket and requested a surname correction on the same day, submitting valid ID proof (voter ID) to the Opposite Party (OP) on August 21, 2017. Despite this, the booking partner neither issued a fresh ticket nor confirmed whether the correction had been made. With no response from the travel agent and Jet Airways asking the complainant to coordinate with the agent, the passenger was left with no option but to cancel the ticket.
The travel agent deducted ₹4,630 as cancellation charges from the total airfare of ₹ 4,970, citing a nominal convenience fee.
The forum strongly condemned the operato₹’s inaction, calling it negligence and holding it accountable for not taking any steps to correct the surname. It emphasized that the complainant should not suffer for the lapse of the service provider.
“The travel operator did not do anything for the correction of surname and thereafter complainant has requested to cancel the ticket. The complainant would not have gone for the cancellation of the ticket in case operator would have corrected the surname or replied in time to complainant that it is not possible to change the surname. The complainant had no option but to go for cancellation of ticket. There is inaction on the part of operator which is negligence. The complainant should not suffer for the lapse on the part of operator. The operator should suffer for inaction on receipt of email and valid ID proof for change the surname of complainant in the air ticket or to get the fresh ticket issued by cancellation earlier ticket. There is deficiency of service on the part of operator,” the order stated.
“The OP should suffer for inaction on receipt of email and valid ID proof,” the order stated, declaring that there was a clear deficiency in service.
The court directed the booking partner to refund the ticket amount (excluding the convenience fee) and additionally awarded ₹8,448 with 6% annual interest from the date of complaint, along with ₹5,000 in compensation for mental agony, harassment, and litigation expenses.
